HJM64 
cop.l     jrinney* 


Causes  a  cures  for 
social  unrest. 


Southern  Branch 
of  the 

University  of  California 

Los  Angeles 

Form  L-l 

HN6+ 


CAUSES  AND  CURES 
FOR  THE  SOCIAL  UNREST 

An  Appeal  to  the  Middle  Class 


*&&&• 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

NBW  YORK    •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO    •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA    •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON    •    BOMBAY    •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OP  CANADA.  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


CAUSES  AND  CURES 
FOR  THE  SOCIAL  UNREST 

An  Appeal  to  the  Middle  Class 


BY 


ROSS  L.  FINNEY,  Ph.D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Educational  Sociology 
at  the  University  of  Minnesota 


jReto  gorfc 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1922 

All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES   OF  AMERICA 


Copyright,  1922, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  printed.     Published  June,  1922. 


Press  of 

J.  J.  Little  &  Iveg  Company 

New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Introduction i 

II.    The  Patriotism  of  the  Mind      ...  5 

III.  Individual  Rights  and  Social  Justice  .  16 

IV.  The  Genesis  of  the  Social  Unrest  .      .  29 
f  ^          V.   The  Modern  Colossus 40 

VI.    Ricardo's  Iron  Law  of  Wages  ...  51 

VII.    The  Distribution  of  Wealth   ...  65 

VIII.    Special    Grievances    of    the    Middle 

Class 81 

;/         IX.    The  Paradox  of  Middle  Class  Salva- 
tion      109 

X.    The  New  Rights  of  the  Public     .     .  129 

XI.   The  Frontiers  of  Democracy     .     .     .  142 

XII.    Some  Necessary  Economic  Reforms     .  160 

XIII.  The  Middle  Class  as  the  Doctor  .     .  178 

XIV.  Spiritual  versus  Economic  Determin- 

ism        194 

XV.   The    Old    Fashioned,    Middle    Class 

Ideals 211 

XVI.   The  New  Education 232 

XVII.   The  Need  for  Social  Science  .     .     .  244 

XVIII.    Art  and  Recreatio 255 

XIX.    The  New   Religion 267 


CAUSES  AND  CURES 
FOR  THE  SOCIAL  UNREST 

An  Appeal  to  the  Middle  Class 


CAUSES    AND    CURES 
FOR  SOCIAL  UNREST 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

NOT  within  the  memory  of  living  Americans,  nor 
scarcely  within  the  entire  history  of  the  nation, 
has  such  a  wave  of  fear  swept  over  the  public 
mind  as  occurred  during  the  twelve  or  fifteen  months 
following  the  Armistice.  The  phenomenon  was  no 
doubt  partly  psychological,  being  the  natural  and  in- 
evitable reaction  from  the  inflated  idealism  of  the  war 
and  the  unwarranted  optimism  that  followed  victory. 
The  outstanding  fact,  however,  was  the  menace  of 
radicalism.  That  menace  was  real,  not  psychological. 
Russian  Bolshevism,  to  our  surprise  and  dismay,  did 
not  collapse,  as  we  had  expected  it  to  do.  And  as  a 
lurid  sky  reflects  the  red  light  of  a  fire  at  night  to  great 
distances  beyond  the  horizon,  so  the  thick  clouds  of 
after-war  suffering  and  despair  reflected  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  the  fearsome  glare  of  the  Russian  revolution. 
The  Russian  situation  presented  a  new  front  almost 
every  month,  always  unexpected  and  surprising,  but 
never  any  less  alarming.     There  was  scarcely  a  time 


2  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

when  it  did  not  carry  the  threat  of  a  world-wide 
upheaval. 

Events  outside  of  Russia  have  furnished  no  little 
ground  for  apprehension.  All  central  Europe  has 
remained  in  unstable  equilibrium  ever  since  the  Armis- 
tice. Budapest  was  terrorized ;  an  ugly,  sullen  temper 
broods  continually  over  the  Ruhr  valley :  barricades 
were  from  time  to  time  thrown  up  in  Berlin,  riots 
raged  throughout  Italy,  and  the  Balkan  states  never 
ceased  to  boil  like  a  caldron.  Even  west  of  the  Rhine 
conditions  have  been  disquieting,  almost  every  west 
European  country  having  at  times  shown  symptoms  of 
fever.  Westminster  has  had  its  anxieties,  and  the 
French  government  its  fears.  Meantime,  reports  from 
all  over  the  world — Japan,  China,  India,  Syria,  Egypt 
— have  shown  the  peoples  everywhere  seething  with 
social  unrest. 

As  for  America,  the  situation  here  has  all  along  been 
very  far  from  reassuring.  Organized  labor,  having 
gained  unprecedented  recognition  during  the  war,  has 
maintained  an  unusually  aggressive  attitude  ever  since, 
the  excuse  being  the  high  cost  of  living.  Samuel 
Gompers,  the  conservative  leader  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  had  his  conservative  leadership 
seriously  disputed  by  the  radical  element.  The  Com- 
munist Labor  Party  split  off  from  the  left  wing  of  the 
Socialist  Party;  and  even  the  orthodox  socialists 
nominated  for  President  of  the  United  States  a  man 
who  had  been  convicted  and  was  in  prison  during  the 
campaign  for  violation  of  the  espionage  act.  The 
I.  W.  W.'s,  quiescent  during  the  war,  crawled  out  of 
their  holes  again.  Foreign  agitators  blew  about  like 
dandelion  seeds,  presumably  taking  root  anywhere  and 


INTRODUCTION  3 

everywhere.  As  a  result  the  country  was  swept  with 
a  great  alarm,  almost  hysterical  at  first.  The  reaction 
against  "Bolshevism"  was  vigorous  and  unequivocal. 
At  length  the  panic  passed;  but  it  left  the  American 
public  no  less  determined,  and  its  concern  no  less  deep- 
seated,  if  less  hysterical.  For  we  came  to  realize  that 
the  polarization  of  our  society  was  due  to  influences 
that  could  neither  be  imprisoned  nor  deported ;  and 
that  the  danger  of  a  violent  electrical  discharge  was 
therefore  all  the  more  imminent. 

The  aspect  of  affairs  has  very  greatly  changed  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years.  During  the  summer  of  1920 
the  entire  available  supply  of  labor  was  absorbed  at 
an  unprecedented  wage.  As  a  result  the  attitude  of 
labor  became  insolent  and  aggressive.  This  attitude 
revealed  itself  chiefly  in  its  disposition  to  "soldier  on 
the  job."  The  efficiency  of  labor  became  very  mate- 
rially reduced.  The  consequence  of  high  wages  and 
reduced  efficiency  was  to  eliminate  profits  almost 
entirely.  The  reaction  of  capital  was  to  promote  a 
vigorous  movement  for  the  open  shop.  Then  came 
the  business  depression  which  social  scientists  had  long 
been  expecting,  whereupon  the  innings  of  labor  were 
over.  During  the  winter  of  1920-21  they  collected 
their  forces  and  diligently  extended  their  organizations. 
Since  then  both  sides  have  been  digging  in.  The  situa- 
tion at  present  is  like  that  in  northern  France  during 
the  fall  of  1 914,  after  the  German  onslaught  to  the 
Marne  and  their  subsequent  retreat  to  the  Hindenburg 
line.  The  hysterical  psychology  of  the  earlier  anti- 
radicalism  has  blown  over;  but  the  alignment  is  none 
the  less  tense  and  truculent  for  all  that.  Never,  as  now, 
have  capital  and   labor   faced  each  other   with   such 


4  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

obvious  determination  to  fight  it  out  to  a  finish.  Who- 
ever has  eyes  to  see  must  realize  that  an  irrepressible 
conflict  is  on.  It  would  be  unsafe  to  predict  just  what 
phase  the  social  unrest  will  assume  next ;  but  it  is  per- 
fectly certain  that  there  will  be  new  phases,  and  that 
they  will  be  surprising  and  perhaps  just  as  disquieting 
as  the  experiences  of  the  last  four  years. 

There  is  an  increasing  tendency  in  the  public  mind 
to  interpret  world  events  in  their  relation  to  this  great 
issue.  As  time  goes  by  we  see  with  increasing  clear- 
ness that  the  World  War  was  something  more  than 
a  struggle  between  political  autocracy  and  political 
democracy.  That  it  was,  to  be  sure;  but,  over  and 
above  that,  it  was  also  a  great  economic  struggle.  As 
the  months  pass  we  realize  more  and  more  clearly  that 
Versailles  also  was  a  battle-ground  of  great  economic 
forces.  Gradually  our  insight  is  penetrating  the  at- 
mosphere of  our  times.  The  political  struggle  of  the 
past  three  centuries  has  passed  its  phase.  It  is  an 
economic  struggle  that  is  now  on:  Capitalism  versus 
Socialism,  a  battle  to  the  death,  and  quarter  neither 
offered  nor  asked. 

Unless  we  of  the  Middle  Class,  who  belong  on  the 
side  neither  of  labor  nor  capital,  can  invent  a  third 
alternative,  a  basis  of  compromise,  a  middle  pathway 
to  justice  and  peace!  Which  it  is  the  purpose  of  this 
little  book  to  point  out. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   PATRIOTISM    OF   THE   MIND 

IF  any  person  finds  himself  hospitable  to  this  idea 
of  a  middle  path  of  peace,  and  wishes  to  help 
•find  it,  let  him  first  of  all  develop  an  appropriate 
frame  of  mind.  If  there  is  any  basis  of  compromise, 
only  an  unbiased  mind  can  find  it.  The  biased  wish  al- 
ways takes  sides;  only  the  judicial  temper  can  arbitrate. 
If  public  opinion  is  to  arbitrate  the  issues  of  our  times 
we  must  all  contribute  our  bit  to  a  public  opinion  that 
is  fundamentally  and  impartially  just. 

In  times  of  peace  about  the  most  important  duty 
that  the  citizen  owes  to  his  country  is  straight  thinking ; 
especially  if  the  times  are  critical,  as  our  times  are. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  in  a  democracy  public 
opinion  corresponds  to  the  sovereign  in  an  absolute 
monarchy;  and  if  public  opinion  is  mistaken  the  battles 
of  peace  go  against  the  republic.  We  are  wont  to  re- 
gard the  law  making  bodies  of  the  government  as  de- 
ciders of  our  national  destiny;  but  we  forget  that  back 
of  law  and  courts  is  public  opinion.  Sometimes  law 
responds  tardily  to  public  opinion,  but  eventually  it  does 
respond.  Hence  everything  depends  in  the  last  analysis 
upon  the  contents  of  the  public  mind.  If  public  opinion 
is  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  schools  free  from  polit- 
ical influence,  or  of  government  ownership  of  railroads, 
or  of  the  open  shop,  or  of  peace  with  Mexico,  those 

5 


6  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

policies  will  be  carried  out.  But  if  public  opinion  is 
confused,  muddled  or  uncertain,  then  selfish  interests 
will  pretty  surely  manage  to  manipulate  the  policy 
of  government  to  suit  themselves.  The  peace,  pros- 
perity and  success  of  democracy  depend,  therefore, 
upon  public  opinion  being  solidly  united  on  policies  that 
are  sound  and  safe. 

But  public  opinion  is  only  the  organized  consensus 
of  the  opinions  of  each  of  us.  If  A,  B,  C  and  D  all 
hold  divergent  opinions,  each  of  them  more  than  half 
mistaken,  then,  so  far  as  these  four  citizens  are  con- 
cerned, they  contribute  to  the  confusion  of  public 
affairs  and  the  miscarriage  of  democracy.  But  if 
these  four  citizens  all  see  alike  because  they  all  see 
straight  (and  there  is  no  other  way  to  see  alike!),  they 
each  contribute  to  the  general  welfare.  We  hear  a 
great  deal  about  the  right  of  the  citizen  to  express  his 
opinions  both  in  speech  and  at  the  ballot  box;  but  do 
we  not  hear  too  little  about  the  citizen's  duty  to  have 
opinions  that  are  really  worth  expressing?  Aside  from 
his  duty  to  be  honest  and  public  spirited  the  citizen  has 
no  more  important  duty  than  to  be  right  instead  of 
mistaken  in  his  thinking  on  public  questions.  If  a 
citizen  is  really  honest  and  public  spirited  he  will  feel 
this  responsibility  keenly,  unless  he  is  so  lacking  in 
intelligence  that  he  fails  to  realize  its  significance. 

It  has  been  said  that  skepticism  is  the  beginning  of 
knowledge,  and  this  is  a  pretty  safe  motto  for  any 
person  to  adopt  who  wishes  to  think  himself  out  of  the 
social  muddle  we  are  now  in,  and  so  help  think  his 
country  out.  Too  much  of  what  the  average  citizen 
knows  about  social,  industrial  and  political  problems 
"would  be  so  if  it  were  only  true."    As  a  result  there 


THE    PATRIOTISM    OF    THE    MIND  J 

is  lamentably  little  clear,  sound  thinking,  and  corre- 
spondingly little  prospect  of  a  consensus  of  valid 
opinion,  but  only  a  free-for-all  clash  of  selfish  and 
divergent  interests.  Any  patriotic  person  who  really 
wishes  to  contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  social  prob- 
lem will  do  well  to  begin  by  questioning  the  soundness 
of  his  own  opinions  on  social  and  economic  questions. 

It  naturally  stands  to  reason  that  a  good  share  of  the 
popular  beliefs  about  social  and  economic  questions 
would  be  fallacious  and  mistaken.  They  are  really  socio- 
logical mythology.  Mythology  came  into  existence  in 
this  way :  Questions  about  natural  phenomena  arose 
in  everybody's  mind  long  before  science  was  ready  to 
answer  them.  But  did  anybody's  mind  suspend  judg- 
ment and  wait  for  the  answer  of  science  ?  Not  at  all. 
The  mind  craves  an  answer  more  insistently  than  the 
parched  tongue  craves  water.  And  when  no  answer  is 
forthcoming  it  fabricates  one  out  of  the  imagination. 
In  that  way  mythologies  arise  to  explain  thunder, 
contagious  disease,  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun, 
and  what  not.  And  presently  the  mythology  acquires 
the  authority  of  tradition. 

We  have  passed  the  stage  of  mythology  in  the  field 
of  natural  phenomena,  but  not  entirely  as  yet  in  the  field 
of  social  phenomena.  In  that  field  the  public  mind  is 
still  on  the  semi-mythological  level.  For  most  persons, 
therefore,  the  beginning  of  knowledge  in  the  social  field 
is  sincere  skepticism  of  what  they  think  they  think. 

Perhaps  the  chief  reason  why  so  much  thinking 
on  social,  economic  and  political  matters  is  wrong,  is 
because  it  really  is  not  thinking  at  all,  but  only  wishing. 
Most  of  us  think  chiefly  below  our  diaphragms.  Our 
interests  predetermine  our  thinking,  seldom  does  our 


8  CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

thinking  select  our  interests.  Thinking,  just  like 
seeing  or  walking,  is  a  servant  in  the  house  of  our  lives : 
our  needs  and  wants  are  master.  We  have  needs  be- 
fore we  see;  and  we  use  our  eyes  to  help  us  get  the 
things  we  want;  and  to  look  at,  we  select  so  far  as 
possible  the  things  we  are  interested  in.  We  have 
needs  before  we  can  walk;  and  we  use  our  feet  to  get 
the  things  we  want.  We  have  needs,  wants,  interests, 
desires  (all  these  words  point  to  the  same  center)  before 
we  think,  and  we  use  our  intellects  to  secure  the  things 
we  desire.  We  build  up  our  set  of  interests  first;  then 
we  build  up  around  them  our  set  of  beliefs  to  secure 
and  protect  our  interests.  And  so  the  religious  in- 
terests to  which  a  man  has  been  brought  up  predeter- 
mine his  religious  creed.  Likewise  a  man's  social  inter- 
ests predetermine  his  social  creed.  What  he  thinks  he 
thinks  he  ofttimes  does  not  think  at  all;  he  simply 
offers  it  as  excuse  to  justify  his  wishes,  interests  and 
desires. 

Let  us  try  to  present  this  important  fact  to  our  imagi- 
nations a  little  more  concretely. 

Imagine  a  group  of  highly  successful  business  men, 
gathered  around  a  banquet  table  in  a  great  metropolitan 
hotel.  These  men  are  all  prominently  connected  with 
established  and  well  known  concerns.  They  all  own 
property,  and  have  families,  residences,  and  established 
social  connections.  They  are  all  cultured  gentlemen, 
schooled  either  in  the  colleges  or  in  the  conventionalities 
of  their  social  circumstances.  Most  of  them  have 
hereditary  connections  which  they  hope  to  pass  on  to 
their  descendants. 

Imagine,  on  the  other  hand,  a  camp  of  transient 
harvest  hands  in  a  "jungle"  on  the  bank  of  a  small 


THE   PATRIOTISM    OF   THE    MIND  9 

stream  in  the  wheat  belt.  These  men  have  drifted  in 
the  wake  of  the  harvest;  they  intend  to  "bum  their 
way"  back  to  the  cities  before  snow  flies.  They  are 
homeless,  wifeless,  jobless.  They  belong  nowhere  in 
particular.  They  have  no  legal  residence,  they  own  no 
property  whatever,  they  belong  for  the  most  part  to 
the  unskilled  class,  they  are  barely  able  to  read,  some 
are  illiterate  quite,  they  have  the  wanderlust  and  no 
prospects  for  the  future. 

Now  in  one  of  these  two  groups  you  find  the  theory 
that  the  distribution  of  wealth  is  due  to  social  causes 
entirely  and  the  possession  of  it  is  a  mere  accident  of 
circumstance;  that  our  government  is  a  democracy 
only  in  name,  but  in  reality  is  a  government  of  the 
many,  by  and  for  the  few;  and  that  revolution  is  the 
only  hope  of  changing  a  bad  social  system.  These  the- 
ories are  held  with  rancor  and  bitterness.  In  the  other 
group  one  finds  the  theory  held  with  quiet,  confident 
dignity  that  the  amount  of  wealth  a  man  possesses  is 
due  to  his  own  personal  ability,  that  our  laws  and  con- 
stitution are  entirely  satisfactory  instruments  of  justice, 
and  that  self -constituted  reformers  are  to  be  regarded 
with  apprehension.  No  reader  will  have  to  guess 
which  theory  goes  with  which  group :  the  point  is  that 
neither  of  these  theories  is  the  plain  unbiased  truth,  it 
is  only  the  intellectual  color  of  the  social  chameleon. 
Each  theory  rises  only  out  of  the  interests  of  the  group 
that  holds  it ;  it  really  throws  little  or  no  light  for  the 
group  that  holds  it  on  economic,  social  and  political 
causes ;  it  rather  serves  to  shut  out  the  light.  The  one 
group  could  ill  afford  to  admit  that  personal  ability 
determines  wealth,  because  that  would  convict  them  of 
being  worthless  incompetents;  the  other  group  could 


IO  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

quite  as  ill  afford  to  admit  that  social  causes  figure  in 
making  some  rich  and  others  poor,  because  that  would 
impeach  their  own  personal  prowess.  It  is  to  the  inter- 
est of  one  group  to  foment  revolution,  because  they 
have  everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose ;  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  the  other  group  to  oppose  all  change  because 
they  have  everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain. 
Neither  of  these  groups  is  prepared  to  contribute  any- 
thing to  the  peaceful  solution  of  our  difficulties;  so  far 
as  they  are  concerned  there  is  no  way  out  except  a 
fight,  into  which  all  the  rest  of  us  are  liable  to  be  drawn, 
unless  we  can  arbitrate  between  them  disinterestedly. 

This  sort  of  mental  attitude  is  acquired  early.  It  is 
an  extremely  interesting  experience  to  teach  a  college 
class  in  Labor  Problems  or  Modern  Social  Reforms. 
The  members  of  the  class  are  likely  to  have  their 
prejudices  pretty  well  set  already  when  they  begin 
the  course;  and  they  are  pretty  sure  to  have  the  same 
point  of  view  at  the  end.  One  student  is  the  son  of 
the  owner  of  a  successful  daily  paper  in  a  city  of  thirty 
thousand ;  a  young  Irishman  has  worked  two  or  three 
seasons  in  a  railroad  construction  gang  in  the  far 
northwest;  another  young  man  represents  the  third 
generation  of  wealthy  farmers  whose  land  is  now 
worth  three  hundred  dollars  per  acre ;  a  young  Russian 
Jew  is  paying  expenses  by  working  evenings  on  a  street 
car;  a  young  woman  is  keeping  herself  in  school  part 
of  each  year  by  holding  a  job  alternately  with  her  sister 
in  an  overall  factory,  and  two  young  ladies  drive  to 
class  in  fine  limousines.  An  aggregation  like  this  is 
not  unusual ;  such  is  the  democracy  of  the  American 
university ! 

The  question  arises  in  such  a  class  as  to  how  a 


THE    PATRIOTISM    OF    THE    MIND  II 

decided  increase  of  wages  would  affect  American  in- 
dustry in  competition  with  the  industry  of  other  coun- 
tries in  the  markets  of  the  world.  Part  of  the  class 
contends  that  the  result  would  be  to  drive  American 
producers  out  of  the  world  markets,  on  account  of  the 
increased  costs  of  production;  but  the  rest  argues 
otherwise,  on  the  ground  that  increased  wages  would 
increase  efficiency  and  decrease  the  per  unit  cost  of 
production.  The  reader  will  readily  imagine  which 
side  each  of  the  seven  students  mentioned  would  take. 
The  teacher  usually  finds  that  nobody's  mind  is  changed 
by  the  discussion.  High  school  teachers  of  civics  have 
the  same  experience ;  even  they  do  not  get  the  students 
young  enough  to  anticipate  the  prejudices  of  their  social 
class  and  industrial  status. 

Politics  furnishes  the  plainest  illustration  of  the  fact 
that  discussion  is  not  always  an  attempt  to  find  the 
truth  but  quite  as  often  an  attempt  to  defend  the  side 
to  which  one  is  committed.  A  Republican  is  a  Repub- 
lican; and  Democrat  is  a  Democrat,  and  their  argu- 
ments run  round  in  a  circle.  "Our  old  cow,  she  crossed 
the  road,  because  she  crossed  the  road,  sir;  and  the 
reason  why  she  crossed  the  road,  was  because  she 
crossed  the  road,  sir."  Hurrah  for  our  side !  Fortu- 
nately, however,  there  is  a  constantly  increasing  number 
of  voters  to  whom  this  does  not  apply.  Are  not  they, 
rather  than  partisans,  the  ones  upon  whom  we  must 
depend  for  constructive  thought  in  the  political  field? 

The  fallacy  of  the  biased  wish  is  all  the  more  subtle 
and  deceptive  because  of  the  prevalence  of  half  truths. 
Half  truths  are  the  most  deceitful  and  dangerous  lies 
in  the  world.  They  are  deceitful  because  the  truth  in 
them  makes  it  so  easy  to  overlook  the  fallacy  in  them. 


12  CAUSES  AND   CURES   FOR  SOCIAL   UNREST 

The  true  half  makes  the  whole  plausible.  They  are 
dangerous  just  because  they  are  deceitful;  there  is  less 
chance  of  correcting  them,  and  they  are  therefore  the 
more  liable  to  lead  to  a  fight.  And  there  seems  to  be 
no  field  in  which  we  are  so  liable  to  the  deceit  and 
danger  of  half  truths  as  in  the  field  of  our  social  and 
economic  problems.  This  is  because  most  social  situa- 
tions present  a  double  front,  either  one  of  which  may 
easily  be  mistaken  for  the  only  front. 

For  example,  take  the  old  heredity-environment  de- 
bate :  Is  one's  personality  due  to  heredity  or  to  environ- 
ment? The  truth  is  that  it  is  due  to  both.  The  two 
influences  are  mixed  together  so  that  they  can  hardly 
be  distinguished.  In  some  cases  the  one  is  the  more 
apparent,  and  in  some  cases  the  other;  but  both  must 
always  be  recognized.  But  how  easy  it  is  to  ignore 
one  or  the  other,  especially  if  one  has  a  wish  smuggled 
away  and  forgotten  somewhere  in  his  subconscious 
mind.  Mr.  John  A.  Smith  adopts  a  boy  and  rears  him, 
but  the  boy  turns  out  badly.  Mr.  Smith  is  naturally 
quite  sure  that  the  boy's  heredity  is  at  fault.  Unde- 
niably heredity  was  bad  in  this  boy's  case.  But  the 
neighbors  are  aware  that  Smith's  training  was  unwise. 
This  is  a  disquieting  fact  which  Mr.  Smith  is  happier 
to  ignore.  So  he  does  ignore  it,  and  attributes  the 
boy's  failure  wholly  to  heredity.  One  of  Mr.  Smith's 
neighbors,  on  the  other  hand,  who,  by  the  way,  has  an 
old  grudge  against  Smith,  insists  that  the  boy's  hered- 
ity was  entirely  all  right,  and  that  the  training  was  the 
only  thing  at  fault.  Of  course  the  real  truth  lies  be- 
tween :  the  heredity  was  at  fault,  and  that  makes  plausi- 
ble Mr.  Smith's  half  truth  that  it  was  all  at  fault;  the 
training  was  also  at  fault,  and  that  makes  plausible  the 


THE   PATRIOTISM    OF   THE   MIND  1 3 

half  truth  of  Smith's  enemy  that  it  was  all  at  fault. 
But  the  whole  truth  is  that  both  were  at  fault.  Such  is 
the  deceit  of  half  truths. 

Again:  Why  is  Richard  Roe  rich  and  John  Doe 
poor?  Is  it  due  to  differences  in  personal  competence, 
or  to  the  pressure  of  social  forces?  Richard  Roe,  you 
may  be  sure,  is  confident  that  it  is  due  to  differences  in 
personal  capacity;  while  John  Doe  is  almost  certain  to 
believe  that  he  is  the  victim,  and  the  other  the  benefi- 
ciary, of  mere  chance  or  social  handicap.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  both  causes  operate  together  in  all  such  cases; 
but  each  sees  only  one,  while  refusing  to  see  the  other. 
The  half  truth  that  each  sees  is  undeniable,  which 
makes  it  all  the  easier  for  each  to  blind  himself  to  the 
existence  of  the  other  half  that  is  not  true.  And  the 
half  to  which  each  pins  his  faith  is  the  half  that  flatters 
his  vanity;  after  which  neither  is  at  all  hospitable  to 
the  balanced  whole  truth. 

This  is  the  situation  with  regard  to  almost  every 
social  problem  that  confronts  us.  One  man  is  a  rabid 
revolutionist.  He  wants  fundamental  changes,  and 
wants  them  immediately ;  he  has  a  rag  of  argument  for 
every  hole  in  the  boat  which  he  wants  us  to  put  to  sea 
in,  and  he  is  willing  to  "blow  'em  up"  in  order  to  get 
the  changes  he  wants.  Another  man  is  an  equally 
rabid  reactionary.  He  wants  nothing  changed.  He 
has  arguments  for  keeping  everything  as  it  is.  He 
finds  economic  law  inviolable;  and  he  is  ready  to  "shoot 
'em  down"  if  necessary  in  order  to  preserve  the  status 
quo.  Obviously  each  man  is  a  dangerous  devotee  of  a 
pernicious  half  truth;  and  the  point  for  our  present 
purposes  is  that  each  has  selected  the  half  truth  that 
best  suits  his  own  selfish  interests.     "Don't  imagine 


14  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

you'll  find  a  fish  monger  declaring  his  fish  are  not 
sweet ;  might  as  well  think  an  oyster  could  crawl  up  a 
tree,  for  that's  where  you'll  make  your  mistake." 
Which  ought  to  be  enough  to  create  in  any  really  hon- 
est minded  person  a  wholesome  suspicion  of  his  own 
economic  and  social  theories.  Write  down  a  statement 
of  your  business  interests  and  social  standing,  and  any 
social  scientist  will  turn  the  paper  over  and  write  out 
your  beliefs  about  the  social  problem.  Or  vice  versa. 
The  exceptions  will  be  rare  indeed.  For  the  most  part 
our  social  creeds  serve  only  to  show  which  side  our 
bread  is  buttered  on,  and  to  estop  constructive  thinking 
on  our  own  parts. 

The  attitude  of  the  biased  wish  is,  of  course,  utterly 
unscientific;  for  science  seeks  without  prejudice  to  dis- 
cover the  facts,  confident  that  the  facts  will  make  us 
free.  But  scientific  discovery  has  always  had  its  oppo- 
nents who  feared  their  creeds  would  be  undermined. 
This  attitude  is  unChristian,  since  the  Christian  spirit 
desires  above  all  things  else  to  find  the  path  of  brotherly 
justice.  The  historic  defenders  of  selfish  interests  have 
been  enemies  of  Christianity,  no  matter  what  eccle- 
siastical positions  they  may  have  held.  The  attitude 
of  blind,  prejudiced  selfishness  is  unpatriotic;  and  when 
it  becomes  truculent  and  aggressive  it  is  treasonable. 
The  slave  holding  aristocracy  of  the  old  South  dragged 
this  country  into  the  Civil  War;  and  radical  labor 
agitators  are  threatening  to  do  the  same  thing  to-day. 
This  attitude  is  dishonorable,  because  refusal  to  seek 
the  truth  is  so  near  akin  to  refusal  to  tell  the  truth.  It 
is  short-sighted  madness,  because  one's  descendants 
are  safest  in  a  just  world. 

Unless,  therefore,  the  reader  is  prepared  to  proceed 


THE    PATRIOTISM    OF    THE    MIND  15 

with  a  patriotic  mind,  even  if  it  should  mean  to  dis- 
cover that  his  own  hands  are  red  with  selfish  injustice, 
it  is  quite  useless  for  him  to  proceed  further  with  this 
little  book.    Too  many  persons  are  unwilling. 

The  clergy  of  this  country  have  for  thirty  years  now 
been  preaching  the  application  of  Christian  principles 
to  the  industrial  situation.  And  the  laity  have  all 
heartily  acceded  that  Christianity  ought  to  be  applied. 
That  was  easy,  because  each  layman,  for  the  reasons 
just  set  forth,  was  never  troubled  with  the  least  shadow 
of  suspicion  that  there  might  possibly  be  something  un- 
christian in  the  rules  of  his  particular  game.  But 
now  that  the  test  comes  down  to  particular  rules  of 
particular  games,  it  looks  as  if  all  this  preaching  of  the 
last  thirty  years  had  been  a  waste  of  energy.  Most 
professed  Christians,  just  like  other  people,  refuse  to 
let  the  test  be  made.  It  seems  to  be  a  psychological 
impossibility  for  them  to  submit  their  own  personal 
interests  to  the  test  of  Jesus'  teachings. 

Consecration  is  the  core  of  the  Christian  spirit.  A 
will  submissive  and  obedient  to  righteousness  is  the 
essence  of  Christian  character.  So  far  as  the  social 
question  is  concerned  the  test  of  a  Christian  is  the  atti- 
tude of  his  mind.  Is  he  willing  to  learn  the  truth 
about  social  institutions  even  if  it  convicts  him?  Just 
as  it  is  the  test  of  patriotism,  also. 


CHAPTER  III 

INDIVIDUAL    RIGHTS    AND   SOCIAL   JUSTICE 

BEFORE  coming  to  grips  with  the  specific  ques- 
tions at  issue  between  Socialism  and  Capitalism 
it  is  necessary  to  establish  a  base  of  supplies  for 
our  thinking.  The  reader  has  observed  that  travelers 
abroad  bring  home  whatever  evidences  they  go  to  find. 
When  they  get  back  they  lecture  us  about  what  they 
have  learned  in  Europe :  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  usually 
learn  what  the  prejudices  were  that  they  started  with. 
They  have  culled  out  whatever  proves  what  they  wanted 
to  prove,  and  they  have  done  this  almost  unconsciously, 
failing  to  notice  the  residue.  So  with  the  social  ques- 
tion :  it  is  really  the  preconceptions  stored  away  in  the 
backs  of  our  heads,  so  to  speak,  that  predetermine  our 
conclusions.  Therefore,  before  we  take  up  the  social 
question  let  us  set  in  order  some  of  the  ideas  which 
ought  to  predetermine  our  opinions. 

In  the  first  place,  what  do  we  mean  by  rights? 
Rights  root  down  into  needs,  and  needs  are  the  bed- 
rock, so  far  as  living  creatures  are  concerned.  State 
what  are  the  needs  of  any  given  creature,  and  a  child 
can  name  the  creature  whose  needs  you  have  enu- 
merated. Needs  must  be  met,  otherwise  death  ensues. 
Needs  make  no  apologies;  they  simply  assert  them- 
selves. To  say  that  a  creature  has  a  right  to  live  is  to 
admit  that  he  has  a  right  to  the  things  that  he  needs  in 
order  to  live.     To  say  that  he  has  certain  needs  that  he 

16 


INDIVIDUAL   RIGHTS   AND   SOCIAL   JUSTICE  1 7 

has  no  right  to  satisfy  is  to  say  that  he  has  a  right  to  a 
fractional  life  only.  If  men  have  a  right  to  live  at  all 
it  would  seem  that  they  have  a  "natural  right"  to  what- 
ever they  need  to  live  a  full,  complete,  all-round,  and 
satisfying  life,  at  least  in  so  far  as  the  things  needed 
are  obtainable.  To  deny  that  right  will  never  be  con- 
vincing to  those  in  need. 

The  Freudian  concepts  and  terminology  would  lend 
themselves  very  happily  to  the  exposition  of  this  doc- 
trine of  natural  rights  and  their  relation  to  needs,  as 
those  will  discern  who  are  especially  interested  in  the 
Freudian  psychology. 

The  doctrine  of  natural  rights  is  at  the  very  basis  of 
democracy.  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident," 
said  our  forefathers,  "that  all  men  are  created  free 
and  equal,  and  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  So  said  the  great  states- 
men of  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  great  philosophers 
who  preached  democracy  during  the  same  period  said 
the  same  thing  in  other  words.  Rousseau  declared  that 
every  human  being  has  a  right  to  be  happy.  Kant  as- 
serted that  every  person  has  a  right  to  be  treated  as  an 
end  in  himself,  and  not  as  a  mere  means.  The  doctrine  of 
natural  rights  is  at  the  core  of  the  Christian  religion  as 
as  well  as  of  democracy.  If  God  created  men  and  gave 
them  needs  we  cannot  doubt  that  He  meant  those  needs 
to  be  satisfied.  Jesus  taught  that  all  men  are  sons  of 
God.  He  said :  "Your  Heavenly  Father  knoweth 
that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things";  and  "I  am  come 
that  ye  might  have  life  and  have  it  more  abundantly." 
What  can  these  teachings  mean  if  not  that  he  endorsed 
the  doctrine  of  natural  rights? 


l8  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

What  now  are  the  needs  of  men  ?  Among  them  cer- 
tainly are  plenty  of  good  wholesome  food,  clothing  and 
shelter,  sanitary  and  medical  protection  from  disease, 
work  that  gratifies  the  constructive  impulse,  normal 
family  life,  reasonable  leisure  with  opportunity  for 
recreation  and  contact  with  nature,  moral  insurance, 
freedom  of  action  and  adventure,  beauty,  social  rela- 
tionships, intellectual  activity  and  education  in  propor- 
tion to  their  individual  intelligences.  To  miss  any  of 
these  is  to  miss  part  of  that  which  is  needful  to  make 
life  really  human.  They  are  all  natural  rights,  are 
they  not?  Modern  psychology  teaches  that  to  thwart 
the  elemental  needs  of  human  life  generates  a  pent-up 
energy  that  will  inevitably  explode  in  some  direction. 
Such  is  the  psychological  explanation  of  social  unrest. 
Social  unrest  is  a  symptom  of  thwarted  needs,  whether 
in  this  age  or  in  any  other. 

But  rights  and  natural  rights  are  two  different 
things.  When  we  talk  about  rights,  and  say  that  a  man 
has  a  right  to  this,  that  or  the  other,  we  usually  have 
social  rights  in  mind.  We  usually  mean  that  society 
recognizes  such  and  such  to  be  a  man's  rights,  and  that 
society  undertakes  to  guarantee  him  the  enjoyment  of 
them.  This  idea  of  social  rights  is  worth  considering. 
A  man  may  have  natural  rights,  but  they  will  do  him 
little  or  no  good  unless  they  are  social  rights  at  the 
same  time.  For  neither  child  nor  adult,  slave  nor  free- 
man, can  protect  his  own  rights.  From  the  time  he 
begins  to  cry  in  the  cradle  till  he  lies  down  for  his  long 
sleep,  he  is  helpless  unless  society  stands  by  him.  The 
guaranteeing  of  rights  is  a  cooperative  enterprise. 

Now,  from  this  standpoint  it  is  evident  that  the  aim 
of  all  social  progress  and  reform  is  to  take  up  natural 


INDIVIDUAL    RIGHTS    AND    SOCIAL    JUSTICE  19 

rights,  one  after  another,  and  make  them  social  rights. 
Slowly  but  surely  the  world  grows  better.  That  is 
apparent  from  a  bird's-eye  view  of  history.  It  is  even 
more  apparent  when  one  gets  a  bird's-eye  view  not 
merely  of  the  six  thousand  years  or  so  of  recorded 
history  but  also  of  the  many  thousands  of  years  of 
prehistoric  social  development  of  which  the  historic 
period  is  but  the  last  chapter.  Indeed,  progress  has 
become  so  rapid  that  even  the  unlearned  can  see  it  with 
the  naked  eye  in  the  short  span  of  a  single  lifetime. 
So  much  so  in  fact  that  progress  has  become  a  cult 
with  us,  a  sort'of  religious  faith.  Now,  translate  our 
faith  in  social  progress  into  the  language  of  human 
rights.  It  means  that  new  social  rights  are  gradually 
being  evolved.  The  black  slave  had  natural  rights,  to 
be  sure;  but  he  had  no  rights  that  any  man  was  bound 
to  respect;  that  is,  he  had  no  social  rights.  But  the 
abolition  of  slavery  took  up  some  of  his  natural  rights 
and  made  them  social  rights  for  him.  And  the  strength 
of  the  anti-slavery  cause  lay  precisely  in  the  fact  that 
men  everywhere  felt  intuitively  that  freedom  is  a  nat- 
ural right  of  all  men — nobody  doubted  it  but  the  slave 
owners.  The  strength  of  all  reforms  is  in  the  instinctive 
recognition  of  natural  rights.  Old  needs  once  thwarted 
are  guaranteed  by  new  social  rights.  Step  by  step  the 
rights  of  man  correspond  more  and  more  nearly  to  the 
needs  of  man.  Thus  the  world  grows  better.  It  is  the 
task  of  each  generation  to  add  its  little  contribution  to 
the  social  rights  of  man,  to  make  its  little  subtraction 
from  the  list  of  thwarted  needs.  And  somehow  we 
cannot  doubt  but  that  a  way  can  and  eventually  will  be 
found  to  guarantee  an  ever  larger  proportion  of  human- 
ity's natural  rights.     The  sabbath  was  made  for  man, 


20  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

not  man  for  the  sabbath;  and  so  were  the  school,  the 
state,  industry,  property,  and  every  other  institution 
under  the  sun.  They  must  all  be  made  to  serve  the 
needs  of  man — the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  see  why  rights  change.  It 
is  social  rights  that  change,  not  natural.  Social  rights 
change  for  two  reasons.  First,  society,  as  it  becomes 
more  enlightened  and  moral,  undertakes  to  guarantee 
rights  that  it  never  before  recognized.  The  new  rights 
of  women  are  a  good  illustration. 

Second,  new  social  rights  are  invented  that  do  all 
that  the  old  ones  did,  and  more  too ;  then  the  old  rights 
are  in  the  way,  and  cease-  to  be  rights.  This  can  be 
illustrated  by  a  comparison  and  by  an  example.  The 
old  self -rake  reaper  was  a  very  useful  implement  to  our 
grandfathers.  But  later  the  self-binder  was  invented; 
it  did  all  that  the  self-rake  reaper  had  ever  done,  but  it 
did  more;  it  not  only  cut  the  grain,  it  bound  it  also. 
No  sooner  had  the  binder  come  into  use  than  the  reaper 
went  into  the  fence  corner.  Now  imagine  some  well 
meaning  old  granddad,  back  in  the  eighteen-eighties, 
insisting  on  getting  out  into  the  harvest  field  with  his 
little  old  reaper  to  help  out  with  the  harvest.  The  poor 
old  fellow,  instead  of  helping,  would  actually  have  been 
in  the  way.  His  son  and  grandsons  would  have  felt 
scant  patience  with  him. 

But  that  is  exactly  what  poor  old  William  Hohen- 
zollern  did.  The  divine  right  of  kings  was  a  very  use- 
ful instrument  in  its  day ;  it  kept  monarchy  going  when 
there  was  nothing  else  to  maintain  order.  Without 
kings  there  would  then  have  been  chaos.  But  after 
democracy  had  been  invented,  it  did  all  that  monarchy 


INDIVIDUAL   RIGHTS    AND    SOCIAL   JUSTICE  21 

had  ever  done,  and  did  it  better.  It  also  did  more ;  it 
looked  after  the  liberties  of  the  masses.  As  soon  as 
democracy  and  the  rights  of  the  people  came  into  the 
field,  monarchy  and  the  divine  right  of  kings  went  into 
the  fence  corner.  But  the  kings  have  always  been  pro- 
verbially slow  in  finding  it  out. 

We  are  now  involved  in  the  process  of  putting  some 
old,  antiquated  social  rights  into  the  fence  corner,  and 
bringing  new  rights  into  the  field.  These  will  protect 
all  the  natural  rights  that  the  old  social  rights  pro- 
tected, and  more.  That  is  what  the  social  crisis  is — 
the  struggle  between  rights  and  larger  rights.  In  such 
a  case  the  good  becomes  the  enemy  of  the  better.  The 
right  of  freedom  of  contract,  for  example,  useful  in- 
deed in  its  day,  is  now  in  the  way  of  larger  rights.  By 
appealing  to  this  old  right  reforms  have  been  estopped. 
Laws  prohibiting  tenement  sweat  shops,  compelling 
regular  payments,  providing  extra  pay  for  over- 
time, and  many  other  good  laws,  have  been  scuttled 
by  the  courts  on  the  ground  that  the  laws  infringed 
the  worker's  right  to  freedom  of  contract.  But  such 
court  decisions  are  now  ancient  history  for  the  most 
part.  Law  and  court  decisions  both  recognize  now  that 
freedom  of  contract  has  its  limitations.  Legislatures 
and  judges  are  gradually  pushing  it  into  the  fence 
corner  and  new  rights  to  take  its  place  are  being  evolved 
under  our  very  eyes,  almost  as  fast  as  Burbank  could 
produce  a  new  type  of  fruit. 

The  bearing  of  all  this  on  the  social  crisis  must  be 
obvious.  Can  any  one  doubt  that  there  are  natural 
rights  of  which  the  common  people  are  still  deprived? 
Is  the  world  yet  perfect?  We  become  so  accustomed 
to  seeing  the  masses  deprived  that  we  scarcely  stop  to 


22  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

think  that  things  might  be  otherwise.  It  is  almost 
impossible  for  us  to  imagine  them  different.  Indeed, 
worse  than  that,  we  grow  so  inured  to  suffering  and 
deprivation  that  our  very  eyes  are  holden,  so  that  we 
do  not  see  it  as  suffering  and  privation.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  seeing  things  social  as  they  are,  and,  con- 
fusing them  with  things  natural,  they  appear  to  us  like 
the  natural  and  predestined  order  of  the  universe. 
This  is  the  greatest  hindrance  to  reform ! 

It  is  true  that  when  we  do  stop  to  think  we  are  puz- 
zled to  know  how  this  suffering  and  deprivation  could 
possibly  be  done  away;  though  that  takes  less  imagi- 
nation than  to  believe  that  science  can  discover  substi- 
tutes for  kerosene  and  coal  when  they  are  exhausted. 
But  can  we  blame  the  deprived  and  suffering  masses 
for  recollecting  that  democracy  has  virtually  promised 
them  happiness?  Or  for  trusting  that  their  Heavenly 
Father  knoweth  that  they  have  need  of  all  these  things  ? 
Or  have  we  too  little  faith  to  believe  that  rights  are  not 
impossible  ?  Do  we  not  know  enough  history  to  under- 
stand at  last  that  forward  to  the  next  new  rights  is  the 
only  way  out  for  the  present  social  unrest  ? 

So  much  for  the  idea  of  rights.  There  is  another 
idea  which  it  is  equally  important  to  have  clearly  in 
mind,  and  that  is  the  idea  of  social  justice.  For  unless 
a  student  of  the  social  unrest  has  a  very  clear  and  defi- 
nite idea  corresponding  to  this  term  his  thinking  is  sure 
to  go  astray. 

Justice  between  individuals  most  people  understand ; 
but  not  social  justice.  Social  justice  is  the  justice  of 
good  institutions,  as  distinguished  from  the  justice 
of  good  individuals.  The  difference  between  individual 
justice  and  social  justice  is  quite  like  the  difference 


INDIVIDUAL    RIGHTS    AND    SOCIAL    JUSTICE  23 

between  hand-made  products  and  machine-made  prod- 
ucts. Individual  justice  (or  injustice)  is  made  by  hand. 
It  is  handed,  as  one  may  say,  from  one  person  to 
another.  But  social  justice  is  machine-made;  it  is 
ground  out  by  the  institutions  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  live.  For  there  are  two  sorts  of  entities,  persons 
and  institutions;  and  institutions,  no  less  than  persons, 
may  be  either  just  or  unjust. 

If  John  Smith  strikes  you  with  a  club,  or  steals  your 
automobile,  or  alienates  the  affections  of  your  wife,  or 
swindles  you  out  of  a  piece  of  property,  that  is  indi- 
vidual injustice,  and  you  are  warranted  in  holding 
John  Smith  personally  responsible.  But  if  a  financial 
panic  causes  your  bank  to  fail,  or  if  a  war  in  Europe 
robs  you  of  your  son,  or  if  a  constitutional  amendment 
puts  you  out  of  business,  or  if  a  rise  in  the  general 
price  level  cuts  your  income  in  two,  or  if  the  system 
of  theology  you  inherited  makes  you  believe  your  dead 
baby  has  gone  to  purgatory,  that  is  social  injustice. 
Naturally  you  want  to  put  your  finger  on  the  person 
who  is  responsible  for  your  trouble ;  but  you  cannot  do 
it,  for  there  is  none  to  hold  responsible,  but  an  insti- 
tution. Just  as  the  turtle  snaps  the  stick  that  punches 
him,  but  cannot  see  as  far  as  the  bad  boy  at  the  other 
end  of  the  stick,  so  you  may  put  a  bomb  under  some- 
body that  stands  out  in  front,  but  it  is  of  no  use.  The 
miscreant  is  not  a  person,  but  the  togetherness  of  per- 
sons. The  institution  is  at  fault :  you  are  the  victim  of 
a  social,  not  individual,  injustice. 

The  injustice  of  institutions  is  easy  for  us  to  discern 
in  the  case  of  institutions  that  are  distant  from  us  in 
time  and  space.  We  find  no  difficulty  in  seeing  that 
the  Chinese  women  were  the  victims  of  the  injustice, 


24  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

not  of  any  person  in  particular,  but  of  the  institution  of 
foot-binding;  just  as  the  Hindu  women  were  the  vic- 
tims of  the  institution  of  the  zenana.  The  French 
peasants  just  prior  to  the  French  Revolution  were  not 
so  much  mistreated  by  the  individual  noblemen,  clergy- 
men and  kings  as  they  were  by  the  institution  of  which 
all  classes  were  parts.  Few  of  the  persons  actually 
involved  in  the  struggles  of  that  period  could  see  that 
fact  clearly  then;  and  so  in  their  anger  they  lusted  to 
kill  kings  and  nobles  for  revenge.  But  as  we  look  back 
upon  it  now  we  realize  that  it  was  not  persons  that 
deserved  to  be  killed  so  much  as  it  was  institutions  that 
needed  to  be  reformed.  The  same  is  true  of  negro 
slavery  in  America.  It  was  not  so  much  at  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Shelby,  Mr.  St.  Clare,  and  Simon  Legree  that 
Uncle  Tom  suffered,  as  it  was  at  the  hands  of  the 
institution.  This  is  the  very  point  Mrs.  Stowe's  novel 
was  written  to  make  clear.  The  popular  demand  for 
the  Kaiser's  execution  gradually  blew  over  because  of 
the  realization,  though  only  half  articulate  in  the  public 
mind  even  yet,  that  it  was  the  system,  not  the  man,  that 
caused  the  holocaust. 

It  is  very  easy  to  enumerate  a  great  many  very  good 
illustrations  of  social  injustice,  and  they  would  all  be 
very  convincing  so  long  as  we  stayed  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  or  back  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
German  people  were  the  victims  not  so  much  of  an 
autocratic  emperor  as  of  an  autocratic  empire.  Our 
own  Revolutionary  War  was  brought  on  by  a  wrong 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  British  Empire,  for  which  no 
one  in  particular  was  to  blame.  The  system  of  paying 
the  Revolutionary  War  debts  made  some  rich  and 
others  poor.     No  individuals  could  have  been  held 


INDIVIDUAL    RIGHTS    AND    SOCIAL    JUSTICE  2$ 

responsible  for  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  Spanish  gold 
in  England  in  the  sixteenth  century,  together  with  the 
system  of  payment  in  cash  instead  of  service,  set  the 
English  peasants  free;  while  in  Germany  the  system 
of  payments  in  service  held  the  peasants  in  serfdom. 
And  so  on  without  limit:  the  fortune  or  misfortune  of 
men  is  due  quite  as  much  to  the  justice  or  injustice  of 
institutions  as  to  the  justice  or  injustice  of  persons. 
And  yet  we  think  so  much  with  our  eyes  and  ears,  and 
so  little  with  our  brains,  that  most  people  (until  re- 
cently) believed  that  the  sun  moved  through  the  sky, 
and  (even  yet)  that  bad  men  are  the  only  agents  of 
contemporary  injustice.  However  it  is  not  the  sun  that 
is  traveling,  but  the  earth  itself  that  is  turning  over :  it 
is  not  always  persons  that  are  doing  us  wrong,  but 
quite  as  often  it  is  customs,  social  creeds,  and  the  rules 
of  the  industrial  game. 

No  doubt  the  reader  has  often  watched  a  group  of 
boys  of  all  sizes  playing  ball — the  old-fashioned,  every- 
fellow-for-himself  game  of  "scrub,"  in  which  each  boy 
works  up  from  fielder  to  batter,  and  then  bats  until  he 
is  put  out.  It  is  great  fun,  especially  when  the  boys 
are  all  about  the  same  size.  But  when  there  are  a  few 
big  boys,  they  do  practically  all  the  batting,  and  the 
little  fellows  do  the  chasing.  That  spoils  the  game  for 
the  little  fellows.  But  the  big  boys  are  not  necessarily 
mean  fellows  at  all;  it  is  the  rules  of  the  game  that  are 
mean.  What  a  reformation  would  be  wrought  by 
changing  the  rules  slightly  when  big  and  little  boys  are 
playing  together ;  so  as  to  set  a  limit  to  batting  to,  say, 
three  runs.  And  why  not — except  that  it  never  was  so. 
Of  course  the  big  boys  would  object;  but  even  they 
would  really  get  just  as  much  fun  out  of  a  fair  game  as 


26  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

out  of  imposing  on  the  little  fellows;  and  fun  that 
would  be  much  better  for  them.  For  in  the  long  run  no 
game  is  a  good  game  for  anybody  unless  it  is  a  good 
game  for  everybody,  because  eventually  an  unfair  game 
is  pretty  sure  to  break  up  in  a  row. 

But  it  never  occurs  to  the  boys  to  suspect  that  there 
is  anything  wrong  with  the  rules  of  the  game.  In  fact 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  perceive  the  injustice  of  insti- 
tutions in  the  midst  of  which  we  live.  One  reason  for 
this  is  mental  inertia.  We  get  accustomed  to  the  cus- 
tomary, and  take  it  as  a  matter  of  course,  along  with 
the  weather  and  the  seasons.  We  thank  God  super- 
stitiously,  and  suffer  the  one  as  reverently  as  the  other. 
Persons  who  take  a  constructively  critical  attitude 
toward  customary  institutions  are  relatively  few,  even 
in  our  own  day.  Blind  conformists  seem  to  be  the 
rule,  perhaps  because  scarcely  half  the  people  are  above 
the  average  intelligence. 

But  especially  to  their  beneficiaries  are  the  injustices 
of  vested  wrongs  invisible — except  as  a  "miracle  of 
grace."  There  are  none  so  blind  as  those  that  won't  see. 
The  big  boys  are  surest  that  the  rules  are  fair. 

Hence  it  is  that  unjust  institutions  always  secrete, 
like  a  joint,  a  plausible  philosophy  to  lubricate  their 
own  friction.  Every  social  injustice,  however  glaring, 
has  its  beneficiaries.  They  it  is,  of  course,  who  control, 
maintain  and  perpetuate  it.  Ideas,  theories,  philoso- 
phies constitute  their  most  impregnable  fortifications — 
the  more  plausible  because  well  mixed  with  half  truths 
always.  Naturally  the  beneficiaries  of  social  injustices 
believe  this  "dope"  with  all  their  hearts;  the  strange 
thing  is  that  they  succeed  in  getting  so  many  other 
people  to  believe  it  also.    The  slave-holding  aristocracy 


INDIVIDUAL    RIGHTS    AND    SOCIAL   JUSTICE  27 

were  able  to  prove  quite  to  their  own  satisfaction  from 
the  scripture  that  slavery  was  a  divinely  ordained  insti- 
tution. Slaves  and  poor  whites  believed  it  too.  The 
doctrine  of  divine  right  of  kings  did  service  for  cen- 
turies; the  people  as  well  as  the  kings  believing  it. 
Men  of  the  middle  class  in  America  worship  the  god 
mammon  according  to  an  economic  creed  that  is  grad- 
ually, as  will  be  shown  in  Chapter  VIII,  grinding  us  to 
powder  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill-stones  of 
our  industrial  system;  and  yet  we  believe  it  with  all 
our  hearts ! 

It  would  take  a  hardy  optimist  indeed  to  assert  that 
we  have  no  social  injustices  left  in  our  modern  world. 
That  is  impossible  on  the  face  of  it ;  for  this  is  not  yet 
a  perfect  world.  For  centuries  the  world  has  been 
growing  better,  but  of  course  it  has  not  yet  reached  its 
goal.  There  are  sickness,  industrial  accidents,  pov- 
erty, ignorance,  premature  death,  and  interminable 
drudgery,  all  of  which  are  preventable  at  least  in  part. 
Life  has  been  deprived  of  its  joy  for  millions  of  men 
and  women,  youths  and  children.  Any  reader,  if  his 
eyes  be  not  holden,  can  look  out  of  the  car  at  almost 
any  time  and  see  faces  and  forms  that  betray  the  trag- 
edies of  their  existence.  And  yet  few  of  us  suspect 
that  removable  social  injustices  are  the  cause.  We  too, 
like  other  peoples  of  other  times  and  places,  had  been 
"doped." 

If  there  were  no  thwarted  needs,  no  social  injustices 
in  our  social  system,  there  would  be  no  social  unrest. 
But  there  are :  and  the  cure  for  the  social  unrest  is  to 
cure  the  social  injustices!  There  are  natural  rights 
that  our  institutions,  as  they  now  stand,  fail  to  guar- 
antee.    If  we  want  social  peace  we  must  bring  new 


28  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

social  rights  into  the  field  that  are  capable  of  cutting 
the  harvest  of  modern  relations.  Which  seems  per- 
fectly self-evident;  nevertheless  there  are  those  who  see 
no  cure  for  the  social  unrest  except  to  suppress  the 
protest.  But  radicalism,  however  unwarranted  the  ex- 
treme forms  in  which  it  presents  itself,  is  entirely  mis- 
conceived unless  it  is  recognized  as  a  symptom  of  social 
injustices.  When  a  man  has  a  fever  it  indicates  that 
there  is  something  wrong  with  his  system  somewhere ; 
the  thing  for  him  to  do  is  to  diagnose  the  cause  and 
remove  it ;  otherwise  it  may  remove  him ! 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GENESIS  OF  THE  SOCIAL  UNREST 

OF  course  there  are  various  theories  current  in 
the  public  mind  to  explain  the  present  eruption 
of  social  discontent.  At  first  some  regarded  it 
as  due  to  after-war  reaction,  and  to  the  excitement  of  a 
political  campaign.  Two  years  ago  the  hope  was  often 
expressed  that  things  would  quiet  down  after  the  elec- 
tion, especially  if  there  should  be  a  good  crop  in  the  fall. 
Others  thought  it  resulted  from  the  influence  of  Euro- 
pean disturbances.  They  believed  that  agitators  from 
Russia  and  other  hotbeds  of  revolutionary  propaganda 
had  been  coming  here  in  large  numbers;  and  that  the 
thing  to  do  was  to  get  rid  of  those  that  were  already 
here,  so  far  as  possible,  and  to  close  our  ports  against 
any  more.  A  New  York  banker,  writing  in  one  of  the 
popular  magazines,  attributed  it  to  the  high  prices. 
Adjustment  to  the  new  price  levels  unavoidably  pro- 
duced a  good  deal  of  strain  in  nearly  all  families,  he 
pointed  out,  and  the  violent  protest  against  existing 
conditions  he  regarded  as  quite  natural,  however  re- 
grettable. He  urged  the  necessity  for  all  our  people  to 
be  as  patient  as  possible  until  the  storm  had  blown  over. 
Others,  recollecting  the  fact  that  labor  demonstrations 
were  held  in  abeyance  during  the  war,  and  the  demands 
of  labor  encouraged  by  certain  war  time  concessions 
and  post-war  prices,  believe  that  we  are  now  having  the 
postponed  and  accumulated  disturbances  of  the  last  five 

29 


30  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

or  six  years.  Their  remedy,  if  they  are  on  the  capitalis- 
tic side  of  the  controversy,  is  to  restore  normal  business 
conditions  as  soon  as  possible;  if  they  are  on  the  labor 
side,  it  is  to  conserve  at  all  cost  the  gains  that  have 
been  made;  if  they  are  neutral,  it  is  to  assert  the  rights 
of  the  public.  All  of  which,  however,  merely  states 
the  situation,  instead  of  explaining  it,  as  the  reader  will 
readily  observe.  Still  others,  who  are  historically 
minded  enough  to  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  last 
fifty  or  sixty  years,  have  observed  a  steady,  cumulative 
growth  during  all  that  time  of  labor  agitation  and 
socialistic  philosophy.  Such  observers  will  regard  the 
present  crisis  as  the  coming-to-grips  of  an  irrepres- 
sible conflict  between  capital  and  labor,  that  has  been 
brewing  ever  since  the  Civil  War. 

These  popular  explanations  are  enumerated  here — . 
even  the  last — chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting 
that  they  are  all  somewhat  fractional  and  superficial. 
It  is  altogether  possible,  and  not  a  little  desirable,  to 
look  somewhat  deeper  into  the  causes  of  the  social  un- 
rest. The  more  profoundly  and  thoroughly  we  are 
able  to  understand  the  problem,  the  more  probability 
there  is  of  our  being  able  to  formulate  a  sound  policy 
on  which  to  unite;  and  certainly  we  cannot  expect  to 
stay  united  long  except  on  a  policy  that  is  sound. 

Mr.  Henry  Ford  is  reported  to  have  remarked  re- 
cently that  history  is  "bunk."  Mr.  Ford  is  a  well 
meaning  and  very  useful  American,  but  that  remark 
offended  the  historians.  They  believe  that  history  has 
practical  uses,  and  that  the  public's  ignorance  of  it  is  a 
handicap  to  the  general  welfare.  And  that  stands  to 
reason,  for  history  is  but  the  record  of  social  experi- 
ence ;  and  the  more  experience  a  man  or  a  society  has 


THE   GENESIS   OF    THE    SOCIAL    UNREST  31 

the  wiser  its  judgments  are  likely  to  be.  You  handle  a 
venerable  old  gentleman  quite  differently  if  you  think 
his  petulance  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  got  overheated 
in  the  garden  yesterday  from  what  you  do  if  you  know 
that  he  has  inherited  senile  dementia  from  three  or 
four  generations  back.  Similarly,  if  we  want  to  know 
the  cure  for  the  social  unrest  we  must  know  its  causes, 
and  these  lie  back  in  history.  Moreover,  history  is 
prophecy.  It  not  only  explains  things ;  it  often  shows 
what  things  are  coming  on  and  what  things  are  passing 
away.  If  we  knew  history  better  we  should  recognize 
which  customs,  which  social  creeds  and  which  rules  of 
the  industrial  game  are  getting  old  and  feeble,  and  are 
about  to  pass  away ;  and  which,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
recently  been  born,  are  now  in  their  strapping  youth, 
and  are  destined  presently  to  become  mature  and  take 
over  the  running  of  this  mundane  institution. 

The  psychology  of  the  deep-seated  anxiety  now  cur- 
rent reveals  an  intuitive  awareness  that  the  very  foun- 
dations of  our  social  system  are  being  called  in  question. 
Its  hysterical  manifestations,  however,  betray  a  sad 
failure  to  understand  the  causes  of  the  danger,  or  what 
to  do  about  it.  It  is  as  if  the  social  unrest  had  pounced 
upon  us,  all  of  a  sudden,  as  did  the  European  war; 
when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  wind  has  been  full  of 
straws  for  generations,  as  we  now  know  it  was  in  the 
case  of  the  war.  There  is  really  no  more  reason  to  be 
surprised  by  the  recent  wave  of  radicalism  and  unrest 
than  there  was  to  have  been  surprised  by  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  in  1914.  It  was  our  ignorance  of  history 
that  blinded  us  to  the  imminence  of  the  war;  it  is  our 
ignorance  of  history  and  of  social  evolution  that  makes 
us  so  blind  to  the  trend  of  social  events. 


'32  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

The  present  social  crisis  is  no  mere  local  phenom- 
enon, either;  it  is  a  great  world  movement.  Nor  is  it 
by  any  means  a  mere  temporary  incident ;  it  is  part  of  a 
vast,  epoch-making  readjustment.  It  grows  out  of  the 
democratic,  industrial  and  scientific  revolutions  of  the 
past  two  centuries,  with  which  we  are  all  more  or  less 
familiar,  and  of  which  we  are  all  so  proud.  If  the 
medieval  world  had  lasted  we  might  have  escaped  the 
modern  unrest.  But  we  had  the  rise  of  democracy,  the 
discoveries  of  science,  the  great  new  inventions,  and 
the  wonderful  development  of  industry;  these  are  the 
real,  even  if  the  remote,  causes  of  the  social  unrest. 

Said  the  Minneapolis  Journal  editorially  under  date 
of  March  6,  1921 : 

"What  is  known  as  class  struggle  to-day  was  not  cre- 
ated to  any  great  degree  either  by  'labor  agitators'  or 
by  'capitalistic  greed."  It  is  an  inevitable  by-product  of 
machine  industry.  When  production  was  transferred 
from  the  home  to  the  factory,  it  meant  of  necessity  the 
aggregation  of  numerous  workers  and  the  accumulation 
of  a  large  capital  in  equipment.  A  reasonable  amount 
of  class  struggle  is  as  wholesome  as  a  fair  amount  of 
competition,  but  it  tends  to  reach  the  point  of  diminish- 
ing returns  where  it  proves  to  be  wasteful  and  disastrous." 

This  is  the  way  Professor  Ross,  one  of  our  leading 
sociologists,  had  put  it: 

"The  modern  'social'  question  has  been  created  neither 
by  labor  agitators  nor  by  capitalist  greed.  It  arose  in- 
evitably out  of  the  development  of  machine  industry. 
About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  began  a 
series  of  inventions  which  caused  the  textile  industry  to 
be  translated  from  the  worker's  home  or  shop  to  the 


THE   GENESIS   OF   THE   SOCIAL   UNREST  33 

factory.  Instead  of  owning  his  tools  he  worked  the 
machinery  owned  by  others  and  became  a  wage-earner. 
Since  then  the  factory  system  has  extended  to  branch 
after  branch  of  manufacturing,  until  the  handicraft  sys- 
tem is  dead  and  we  are  committed  without  reserve  to 
industrialism. 

"Industrialism,  child  of  the  power-driven  machine, 
molds  society  with  appalling  power  and  causes  its  mem- 
bers more  and  more  to  cluster  at  opposite  poles  of  the 
social  spindle.  The  situation  is  grave,  and  no  one  can 
tell  how  much  graver  it  will  become  before  an  adjust- 
ment will  be  found  which  will  pull  this  thorn  from 
humanity's  flesh." 

This  change  from  hand  tools  to  power  machines, 
which  began  in  the  English  textile  industry  about  a 
century  and  a  half  ago,  and  has  since  spread  to  all  the 
great  industries  in  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  is 
probably  the  most  momentous  change  in  human  affairs 
that  has  occurred  since  history  began.  We  are  too 
close  to  it  as  yet  to  see  its  proportions  in  proper  per- 
spective. Uneducated  persons,  and  especially  those  who 
have  neglected  the  study  of  history,  are  least  aware  of 
the  significance  of  The  Industrial  Revolution,  as  it  is 
called.  Nevertheless,  the  present  social  unrest  can  be 
understood  only  by  understanding  the  far  reaching 
effects  of  this  change  from  hand  tools  to  power 
machines. 

The  significance  of  The  Industrial  Revolution  is  best 
understood  by  comparing  it  with  an  analogous  change 
that  antedates  the  dawn  of  history.  To  this  other 
change,  so  long  ago,  the  reader's  attention  is  accord- 
ingly invited,  and  it  will  bear  somewhat  extended  study. 

If  the  reader  will  give  play  to  his  imagination  at  this 
point  he  will  see  an  old  fact  in  a  new  light,  and  that 


34  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

new  light  will  illuminate  the  present  problem.  The  old 
fact  is  the  very  simple  one  that  civilized  life  is  different 
from  savagery.  But  why  is  it  different?  Simply 
because  life  must  of  necessity  be  different  to  farm  than 
to  hunt.  The  domestication  of  plants  and  animals  is 
the  pivot  upon  which  the  change  hinged.  That  was 
what  changed  men  from  hunters  to  farmers,  lifted 
them  from  savagery  to  civilization,  and  caused  the 
dawn  of  history.  The  domestication  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals !  For  one  change  led  always  to  another.  Domes- 
ticated plants  and  animals  necessitated  a  settled  life,  so 
as  to  cultivate  the  same  fields  year  after  year.  Property 
rights  in  a  field  a  family  had  cleared  came  to  be  sanc- 
tioned by  society — they  had  to  be;  hence  arose  the 
institution  of  private  property  in  land.  Fixed  abodes 
favored  the  building  of  substantial  houses,  instead  of 
tents,  lodges  and  wigwams.  Naturally,  substantial 
houses  were  erected  for  the  gods  also ;  and  this  in  turn 
changed  the  very  gods  that  inhabited  them.  Moral 
codes  also  were  modified  to  meet  new  conditions.  They 
had  to  be.  The  same  rules  that  governed  hunting 
would  not  apply  to  farming.  The  right  to  hunt  any- 
where had  to  give  way  to  a  man's  rights  in  his  fields. 
The  morality  of  killing  any  pig  that  a  man  might  find 
changed  with  the  taming  of  the  pigs.  And  while  all 
this  happened  so  long  ago  that  it  sounds  more  romantic 
than  real,  at  the  time  it  occasioned  many  a  bitter  fight, 
and  no  little  "social  unrest."  But  the  changes  went 
right  on.  Handicrafts  and  commerce  thrived.  Villages 
grew  to  cities,  cities  to  states,  and  states  to  empires. 
The  forms  of  government  and  the  methods  of  war  were 
adjusted  to  the  new  conditions.  Settled  life  favored 
the  accumulation  of  written   records  by  which  past 


THE    GENESIS   OF    THE    SOCIAL    UNREST  35 

events  could  be  remembered.  It  favored  the  keeping 
of  other  treasures  also,  and  so  made  possible  the  accu- 
mulation of  wealth.  Literature  and  the  arts  resulted. 
They  in  turn  stimulated  the  intellectual  life  to  ever  new 
achievements.  In  short,  the  domestication  of  plants 
and  animals  resulted  in  lifting  man  out  of  naked  sav- 
agery, and  placing  him  on  a  social  terrace  where  writ- 
ten records  could  be  left  behind;  in  other  words,  it 
caused  the  dawn  of  history,  by  inaugurating  the  his- 
toric type  of  civilization. 

We  western  peoples,  the  most  advanced  in  the  world, 
are  now  engaged  in  the  act  of  climbing  up  another 
terrace.  An  equally  revolutionary  change  has  recently 
occurred :  the  domestication,  so  to  speak,  of  steam, 
electricity,  bacteria,  and  the  chemical  affinities.  Just 
as  the  earlier  domestication  lifted  man  from  the  ter- 
race of  savagery  to  the  terrace  of  civilization,  so  this 
recent  new  domestication  is  lifting  him  from  the  ter- 
race of  civilization  to  the  terrace  of  a  new,  super- 
civilization.  It  has  already  resulted  in  changes  in  our 
adaptation  to  nature  by  all  odds  more  far-reaching  than 
anything  else  that  has  ever  occurred  since  the  domesti- 
cation of  plants  and  animals.  As  a  result  the  institu- 
tions of  the  agriculture-handicraft  stage  of  industrial 
society  are  becoming  as  unsuited  to  the  machinofacture 
regime  as  were  the  institutions  of  the  hunting-fishing 
stage  to  the  agriculture-handicraft  regime  when  it  ap- 
peared. Inevitably  there  must  eventually  follow  exten- 
sive social  readjustments.  Eventually  every  ideal  and 
institution  of  civilization  will  be  modified:  property, 
the  family,  the  moral  code,  government  and  religion. 
There  must  be  as  much  modification  of  laws  as  there 
has  been  of  vehicles;  we  can  no  more  carry  the  new 


2,6  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 


THE   GENESIS   OF    THE    SOCIAL    UNREST  $7 

machinofacture  conditions  on  the  old  handicraft  laws 
than  we  could  haul  modern  traffic  on  ox  carts.  There 
must  be  as  much  change  in  the  rules  as  in  the  tools  of 
the  industrial  game.  Old  customs,  creeds  and  rights  will 
be  altered;  they  will  have  to  be!  The  new  tools  have 
created  new  human  relations,  and  the  new  relations 
will  require  new  rules.  Indeed  these  modifications  are 
going  on  slowly  under  our  very  eyes.  Let  us  hope  that 
they  will  continue  to  be  slow,  so  as  to  give  us  time  to 
adjust  ourselves;  but  in  the  long  run  their  aggregate 
accumulation  will  be  immense  and  inevitable.  We  are 
in  the  process  of  producing  a  new  social  arrangement 
as  different  from  historic  civilization  as  the  social  ar- 
rangement of  historic  civilization  is  different  from  that 
of  naked  savagery.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  present 
social  crisis. 

The  chief  difference  between  these  two  great  changes 
is  the  speed  of  their  occurrence.  The  first  came  very 
slowly.  It  was  spread  out  over  hundreds,  indeed  thou- 
sands, of  prehistoric  years.  The  last  is  being  crowded 
into  a  swift  century  or  two.  And  a  few  gifted  seers 
have  foreseen  for  a  century  that  the  future,  because  of 
this  great  industrial  change,  is  pregnant  with  a  new 
and  higher  civilization.  The  change  they  foresaw  is 
now  upon  us.  From  the  standpoint  of  social  evolution 
it  is  evident  to  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  that  the  great 
war  was  the  birth  pangs  of  a  new  social  regime.  In  its 
more  fundamental  aspects  the  war  was  the  last  great 
stand  of  the  old  handicraft  order  of  things.  Social 
changes  threaten  to  follow  upon  it  with  a  sweep  and  a 
rush  that  are  appalling !  They  are  destined  in  the  end 
to  assume  proportions  almost  apocalyptic.  We  are  in 
great  danger  of  losing  control  of  them.     It  will  be 


38  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

safest  to  recognize  that  fact;  for  there  is  nothing  to  be 
gained  in  time  of  danger  by  hiding  our  heads  in  the 
sand  like  ostriches.  The  fact  is,  that  the  curtain  is 
rising  on  a  new  stage  setting.  To  the  student  of  the 
age-long  history  of  the  race  it  is  evident  that  we  are  at 
the  threshold  of  a  new  world  as  different  from  that  of 
Lincoln  and  Washington  as  theirs  was  different  from 
that  of  the  O  jib  ways,  the  Hottentots  and  the  Cro- 
Magnons.  That  is  the  goal  of  the  present  social  move- 
ment. It  is  time  for  intelligent  people  frankly  to  aban- 
don the  blind  and  phlegmatic  superstition  that  things 
can  be  kept  as  they  are.  We  shall  achieve  normalcy  not 
by  returning  but  by  proceeding.  There  will  be  stability 
again  in  the  modern  world  only  as  we  can  keep  the 
change  moving  in  orderly  fashion,  and  under  intelli- 
gent control,  toward  the  predestined  goal.  Otherwise 
the  dam  will  break ;  and  the  torrent,  out  of  all  control, 
will  sweep  on  destructively,  just  as  it  has  so  often  done 
in  even  lesser  crises  in  other  times  and  at  other  places. 
In  other  words,  can  we  not  succeed  in  settling  the 
irrepressible  issues  of  our  times  with  brains  instead  of 
with  blood?  It  is  a  question  of  finding  out  what  read- 
justments are  predestined,  so  to  speak,  and  making 
them  as  quietly  and  peaceably  as  possible.  Can  we  by 
reason  and  justice  negotiate  our  social  problems  as 
problems,  before  they  degenerate  into  a  violent  clash  of 
interests?  This  is  the  dilemma  now  confronting  the 
American  people ;  and  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by 
evading  it.  Extensive  social  changes  are  predestined 
by  the  new  conditions  we  have  already  created ;  but  it  is 
by  no  means  predestined  that  the  new  regime  shall 
come  in  without  violence.  It  is  of  the  most  momentous 
consequence  whether  it  come  as  a  gradual  peaceful  evo- 


THE    GENESIS   OF    THE    SOCIAL    UNREST  39 

lution,  or  as  a  violent,  destructive  revolution.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  preventing  change,  but  a  question  of 
orderly  and  directed,  instead  of  violent,  abortive 
change.  Which  it  will  be  depends  wholly  upon  us ;  and 
that  is  why  it  is  so  necessary  for  us  to  understand  the 
situation,  conform  to  the  inevitable,  and  direct  the 
details  accordingly.  The  great  hope  is  that  in  mutual 
reason  and  good  will,  we  can  keep  things  moving 
steadily  along  toward  the  inevitable  goal.  If  we  can 
succeed  in  doing  that,  the  present  crisis  will  pass  into 
history  as  one  of  the  most  fruitful,  beneficent,  and 
withal,  wonderful  periods  in  the  experience  of  the  race. 
But  if  we  cannot  succeed  in  doing  that,  the  most  tragic, 
bitter  and  even  violent  clash  of  interests  will  be  the  sad 
alternative.  As  the  public  so  intuitively  fears,  con- 
fusion and  even  anarchy  are  by  no  means  impossible. 
Which  sounds  rhetorical  enough,  to  be  sure ;  but  which 
would  cost  our  children  and  grandchildren  their  lives. 
And  after  that  there  might  ensue  dark  ages  again 
perhaps  for  a  thousand  years,  during  which  time  un- 
imaginable millions  of  human  beings  would  cross  the 
stage  of  life  under  the  shadows  of  ignorance,  misery 
and  despair.  The  danger  is  that  we  may  let  it  come 
to  that. 


CHAPTER V 

THE   MODERN   COLOSSUS 

IT  is  of  course  impossible  for  anybody  to  be  blind 
to  the  fact  that  great  power  machines  have  super- 
seded hand  tools  in  the  great  basic  industries  of 
modern  civilization.  That  machines  have  very  greatly 
increased  the  productivity  of  industry,  everybody  real- 
izes, too.  But  surprisingly  few  middle  class  Americans 
look  much  deeper  than  that  into  the  revolutionary 
social  changes  that  have  followed  as  a  direct  conse- 
quence. Few  persons  realize  what  the  new  machines 
have  done  to  labor.  Few  middle  class  Americans 
realize  that  the  status  of  labor  has  been  changed  by  the 
advent  of  machines  quite  as  fundamentally  as  has  his 
work. 

It  is  important  to  get  at  the  crux  of  the  matter.  Not 
minor  and  irrelevant  details,  but  the  central  issue,  is 
what  we  need  to  understand.  What  is  it?  The  dis- 
tinguishing difference  between  the  new  machinofac- 
ture  regime  and  the  old  handicraft  regime  is  the  very 
much  more  extensive  use  of  what  the  economist  calls 
capital  goods. 

In  the  handicraft  age  the  tools  of  industry  were 
simple  and  inexpensive,  the  shop  itself  was  small,  in- 
volving but  little  outlay,  and  the  raw  material  was 
needed  in  relatively  small  quantities.  But  in  modern 
machinofacture  industry  all  that  is  changed.     Instead 

40 


THE    MODERN    COLOSSUS  4 1 

of  hand  tools  there  are  enormous  power-driven  ma- 
chines, housed  in  enormous  plants,  requiring  enormous 
quantities  of  raw  material.  All  of  which  represents  an 
enormous  investment  in  capital  goods.  And  not  only 
have  the  small  shops  grown  to  large  plants,  but  the 
large  plants  themselves  have  been  assembled  and  con- 
solidated. The  small  unit  is  a  vanishing  institution  in 
most  of  the  great  basic  industries  except  agriculture. 
In  most  fields  modern  industry  is  large  scale  industry, 
involving  the  use  of  vast  aggregations  of  capital. 

There  is  a  very  clear  and  definite  reason  why  this  is 
so,  namely  the  economies  of  combination.  To  the  bar- 
ber's trade  this  principle  does  not  apply.  Barber  shops 
are  still  small  shops.  The  nature  of  the  barber 
business  is  such  that  a  shave  or  a  hair  cut  cannot  be 
produced  and  delivered  any  cheaper  in  a  shop  of  a 
thousand  chairs  than  in  a  shop  of  five  chairs.  But  then 
there  has  not  been  much  change  in  the  tools  of  the 
barber's  trade !  But  to  transportation  the  principle  does 
apply.  There  was  a  time  when  in  journeying  from 
Albany  to  Buffalo  a  man  traveled  over  eleven  separate 
and  distinct  systems  of  railroad.  But  that  soon  passed 
away.  The  advantages  and  economies  of  consolidating 
small  units  into  large  systems  soon  became  apparent. 
To-day  great  railroad  systems  are  the  rule.  The  same 
principle  seems  to  apply  in  many  other  lines  of  modern 
industry:  mining,  steel  manufacturing,  meat  packing, 
telegraphing,  lumbering,  flour  milling,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 
In  each  of  these  lines  of  work  the  simple  tools  and 
small  shops  of  an  earlier  period  have  given  place  to 
ponderous  machinery  housed  in  colossal  plants  and  in- 
volving fabulous  investments. 

It  is  interesting  to  collect  a  list  of  names  that  repre- 


42  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

sent  medieval  trades :  Baker,  Bailey,  Barber,  Brewer, 
Butcher,  Butler,  Carpenter,  Carter,  Chandler,  Collier, 
Cook,  Cooper,  Cutler,  Diver,  Draper,  Dyer,  Farmer, 
Fisher,  Fowler,  Gardner,  Glazier,  Hooper,  Hunter, 
Mason,  Miller,  Painter,  Piper,  Plummer,  Potter,  Por- 
ter, Sailor,  Scriver,  Shephard,  Shoemaker,  Skinner, 
Slater,  Smith,  Tanner,  Taylor,  Thatcher,  Weaver, 
Wheeler.  A  few  of  these  trades  remain  as  of  old,  un- 
modified by  the  industrial  revolution;  some  have  been 
broken  up  into  unskilled  piece  work  in  the  modern 
division  of  labor,  and  others  have  been  absorbed  in  the 
great  industries.  The  descendants  of  Mr.  Carter  have 
become  the  truck  drivers  and  the  railroad  employees, 
almost  the  whole  Smith  family  now  work  for  the  great 
steel  corporations,  the  Chandlers  are  lighting  us  with 
gas  and  electricity,  the  Carpenters,  and  Masons,  the 
Slaters  and  the  Thatchers  all  together  could  hardly  put 
up  a  steel  skyscraper;  lumbering,  telegraphy,  the  mak- 
ing of  steel  machinery,  and  the  oil  business  are  not 
provided  for  at  all  in  the  list,  while  Mr.  Scriver  and  all 
his  offspring  would  have  their  hands  more  than  full 
with  the  accounting  and  correspondence  of  our  modern 
corporations. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  point :  this  change  from 
small  hand  tools  in  small  shops  to  vast  complicated 
machinery  in  vast  expensive  factories,  has  rendered  im- 
practicable the  ownership  of  tools  and  shops  by  the 
workers.  The  shop  is  too  big  to  stand  in  the  worker's 
back  yard ;  the  tools  too  heavy  to  be  carried  home  in  his 
kit.  The  plant  and  the  equipment  are  too  expensive  to 
be  within  the  reach  of  the  workers'  savings.  Fancy  the 
miners  owning  the  mine  in  which  they  dig,  the  train- 
men owning  the  rolling  stock  on  which  they  work,  or 


THE    MODERN    COLOSSUS  43 

the  steel  workers  owning  the  plant  in  which  they  are 
employed.  In  the  olden  days  almost  any  apprentice 
might  hope,  by  industry  and  thrift,  to  get  together  the 
tools,  materials  and  shop  to  set  up  on  his  own  account. 
Under  those  circumstances  owner  and  worker  were  the 
same;  capital  and  labor  were  united  in  one  person. 
But  under  modern  machinofacture  conditions  that  is 
out  of  the  question.  Ownership  and  labor  are  quite 
naturally  and  inevitably  separated.  And  that,  reader, 
is  the  crux  of  the  whole  modern  situation;  that  is  the 
fundamental  cause  of  the  modern  social  unrest. 

The  writer  ran  across  two  paragraphs  recently  that 
express  this  principle  tersely,  clearly  and  authorita- 
tively. They  are  from  a  new  history  of  modern  Europe 
by  Professor  E.  R.  Turner,  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan. Speaking  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  in  Eng- 
land, toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  he 
says: 

"At  first  the  new  inventions  made  no  great  change. 
Not  every  successful  workman  could  afford  to  buy  Har- 
greaves's  spinning- jenny,  yet  this  machine  was  not  very 
cumbersome  or  costly.  But  the  heavy  power  spinning 
machines  of  Arkwright  could  be  got  only  by  the  few 
who  had  considerable  capital  to  buy  them  and  put  up 
buildings  in  which  to  install  them.  And  when  presently 
power  looms  and  spinning  appliances  were  run  by  steam 
engines,  then  only  capitalists  could  buy  them." 

On  a  later  page  he  adds : 

"Formerly,  life  had  been  hard  enough,  and  living  very 
meager,  but  many  of  the  workers  had  been  their  own 
masters.  Now  they  worked  very  largely  at  the  mercy 
of  employers  who  owned  the  indispensable  machines,  and 


44  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

whose  principal  consideration  was  usually  the  getting 
of  wealth,  not  the  employees'  welfare.  Generally  there 
were  more  laborers  seeking  work  than  were  needed,  so 
that  the  employer  had  great,  even  cruel  advantage." 

And  although  the  Industrial  Revolution,  during  the 
century  and  a  third  that  has  since  elapsed,  has  spread 
all  over  western  Europe  and  the  United  States,  has 
begun  in  Russia,  has  become  thoroughly  established  in 
Japan,  and  is  about  to  invade  China  and  India,  this 
"great  and  even  cruel  advantage"  has  not  been  cor- 
rected yet.  Indeed,  except  in  a  few  highly  organized 
trades,  scarcely  a  beginning  has  yet  been  made  toward 
its  correction.  And  fundamental  as  this  new  situation 
is,  and  simple  to  understand,  there  is  probably  not  one 
middle  class  citizen  in  fifty  that  does  understand  it,  or 
is  even  aware  that  it  exists  at  all.  And  yet  it  is  the 
very  crux  and  core  of  the  social  unrest  the  world  over. 

Unless  the  reader  sees  this  point  and  discerns  its 
revolutionary  significance,  it  is  useless  for  him  to  follow 
the  argument  further.  And  for  the  typical  middle 
class  reader  this  point — that  in  modern  large  scale 
industry  worker  and  ownership  are  inevitably  divorced 
— will  be  peculiarly  difficult  to  perceive ;  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  typical  middle  class  citizen  has  little 
immediate  experience  with  typical  large  scale  modern 
industry.  As  likely  as  not  he  is  a  farmer.  But  agri- 
culture, for  reasons  peculiar  to  itself,  is  still  on  the 
small  unit  basis,  and  pretty  certain  to  continue  so. 
Some  farmers,  it  appears,  are  aware  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  "big  business,"  but  it  is  quite  as  apparent 
that  they  do  not  understand  it.  Or,  perhaps,  the  typical 
middle  class  reader  is  a  retail  merchant,  another  busi- 
ness still  mostly  on  the  small  scale  basis.     Or  he  is  a 


THE   MODERN    COLOSSUS  45 

contractor,  or  a  garage  owner,  or  a  village  blacksmith, 
or  some  one  else  who  does  not  realize  that  his  business 
is  only  on  the  fringe  of  typical  large  scale  modern  in- 
dustry, and  that  if  all  industries  were  small  shop  indus- 
tries like  his  own  there  would  be  no  modern  social 
problem  at  all.  Or,  as  likely  as  not,  the  reader  is  a 
clergyman,  a  doctor,  a  lawyer,  or  a  teacher,  the  son  of 
some  farmer,  or  merchant,  or  a  blacksmith.  Neither 
these  men — nor  their  wives — have  much  immediate 
contact  with  large  scale  modern  industry,  and  while,  as 
professional  men,  they  are  of  course  well  posted  on  the 
documentary  hypothesis  of  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  tech- 
nique of  thyroidectomy,  or  the  precedents  involved  in 
the  foreclosure  of  a  mechanic's  lien,  or  the  method  of 
compiling  an  age-grade  distribution  table,  not  one  in  a 
hundred  of  them  knows  the  law  of  monopoly  price  nor 
Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages  nor  the  industrial  history 
of  the  United  States  since  the  Civil  War.  Hence  they 
quite  naturally  interpret  modern  problems  in  terms  of 
the  small  scale  industries  with  which  they  are  familiar, 
not  realizing  that  these  industries  are  a  declining  minor- 
ity, and  that  the  modern  stage  is  really  set  by  large 
scale  industries.  They  must  learn  that  unless  modern 
problems  are  thought  in  terms  of  modern  conditions 
they  are  not  thought  at  all. 

With  this  caution  we  may  proceed.  "Quite  nat- 
urally and  inevitably"  ownership  and  labor  are  sepa- 
rated.   That  needs  explaining  further. 

But  first  let  us  illustrate.  For  which  purpose  we 
may  revert  to  that  good,  old-fashioned,  every-fellow- 
for-himself  game  of  ball  called  scrub.  Now  suppose 
that  every  time  a  player  made  a  fair  hit  and  a  safe  run 
it  automatically  added  ten  per  cent  to  his  stature.     A 


46  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

few  safe  runs  and  the  status  of  the  players  would  be 
fixed.  The  overgrown  batters  would  be  in  batting  for 
keeps,  the  middle  class  would  be  on  the  bases  for  good 
and  all,  and  the  small  fry  would  chase  flies  in  the  field 
till  the  crack  of  doom. 

In  modern  large  scale  industry  every  safe  run  actu- 
ally does  add  to  the  stature  of  the  owner,  because  as 
owner  he  has  absolute  control  of  the  profits.  Back  into 
the  business  these  profits  go — in  large  part  at  least — 
increasing  the  size  of  the  investor's  investment.  Hence 
decade  after  decade  property  piles  up  in  the  hands  of 
the  propertied  class,  while  the  propertyless  remain  as  a 
rule  as  propertyless  as  before. 

Some  statistics  will  illustrate :  Professor  Friday  * 
found,  by  a  study  of  251  corporations  for  a  ten-year 
period,  1 910- 191 9,  that  their  total  reinvested  income 
( wages  and  interest  on  investment  having  already  been 
taken  out),  amounted  to  $4,500,000,000,  or  75  per  cent 
of  their  capital  in  19 19.  All  corporations  in  the  United 
States  reporting  had  a  total  net  income  of  $6,700,000,- 
000  in  191 9,  of  which  $2,800,000,000  was  promptly 
reinvested.  After  the  investor  had  had  the  current  rate 
of  interest  on  his  investment,  and  labor  the  current 
wage  for  his  work,  $2,800,000,000,  or  42  per  cent  of 
the  total  product,  was  left  over.  This  the  investor 
added  to  his  investment  without  consulting  his  partner, 
the  worker.  "In  a  very  large  part  of  American  indus- 
try, the  capital  investment  of  the  decade  preceding  the 
outbreak  of  the  European  war  was  equal  to  that  which 
had  been  made  in  all  previous  years.  Since  .  .  .  1896 
we  have  invested  as  much  capital  in  manufacturing, 
railroads,  public  utilities  and  mines  as  we  had  invested 
1  "Profits,  Wages  and  Prices,"  pp.  62,  64,  78. 


THE    MODERN    COLOSSUS  47 

in  those  industries  in  all  our  previous  history."  This 
is  the  stake  of  the  modern  game.  And  it  has  gone  for 
the  most  part  to  the  batters,  increasing  their  size  and 
tightening  their  grip  on  the  bat. 

But  capital  is  increased  not  only  by  the  addition  of 
reinvested  profits  but  also  by  the  mere  increment  in 
valuation.  Sometimes  a  property  increases  in  value 
because  property  has  been  added  to  it;  but  at  other 
times  property  increases  in  value  merely  because  value 
has  been  added  to  it. 

The  market  value  of  a  piece  of  property  bears  no 
necessary  relation  to  its  original  cost ;  its  earning  power 
is  what  counts.  It  is  worth  whatever  amount  it  will 
pay  dividends  on.  If  a  piece  of  property  can  be  de- 
pended upon,  one  year  with  another,  to  yield  the  owner 
a  net  income  of  $1,000  annually,  the  property  is  worth 
approximately  $17,000  (assuming  that  the  current 
interest  rate  is  6  per  cent),  because  it  pays  interest  on 
that  amount.  But  if  the  same  property  for  any  reason 
develops  the  ability  to  yield  a  regular  annual  income  of 
$1,500  it  becomes  worth  $25,000  on  the  market.  Of 
course  the  application  of  this  rule  is  modified  in  prac- 
tice by  modifying  conditions,  but  the  general  principle 
is  practically  universal.  This  increment  in  the  value  of 
property  accrues  of  course  to  the  owners  of  property. 
If  the  earnings  of  a  man's  work  increase  by  say  six 
hundred  dollars  a  year,  his  resources  are  increased  by 
six  hundred  dollars  a  year.  There  the  matter  ends. 
But  if  the  earnings  of  a  man's  investment  increase  by 
six  hundred  dollars  a  year,  there  the  matter  does  not 
end.  The  market  value  of  the  investment  itself  is 
thereby  automatically  increased  by  approximately  ten 
thousand  dollars.     The  six  hundred  dollars  additional 


48  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

income  pays  the  current  rate  of  interest  on  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  additional  investment;  so  the  same  prop- 
erty becomes  worth  $10,000  more  on  the  market  than 
it  was  worth  before. 

An  incidental  result,  therefore,  of  the  enormous 
prosperity  of  modern  industry  has  been  to  increase  the 
validation  of  property.  It  must  inevitably  have  in- 
creased. Take  a  bird's-eye  view  in  imagination  of  the 
lands  and  the  forests  and  the  mines  and  the  water- 
power  and  the  mills  and  the  railroads  of  this  country. 
The  growth  of  population,  by  increasing  the  demand 
for  the  products  of  these  resources,  would  of  itself 
increase  their  earnings.  But  the  growth  of  wants  is 
almost  as  important  a  factor  as  the  growth  of  popula- 
tion. But  further,  the  improvement  of  the  technique 
and  arts  of  industry  is  also  a  factor  in  prosperity.  If 
population  were  declining  and  industrial  arts  decaying, 
the  earnings  of  investment  would  be  irresistibly  on  the 
down  grade;  but  with  population  growing,  wants  mul- 
tiplying, and  the  arts  improving,  the  earnings  of  invest- 
ments are  inevitably  increasing,  and  the  valuation  of 
property  is  thereby  increased  accordingly.  Much  of 
the  increased  wealth  of  the  country  is  therefore  nothing 
but  the  increased  valuation  of  property.  Obviously 
whoever  owns  the  property  gets  the  increment.  The 
fortunes  that  are  acquired  in  this  way  make  the  life- 
time savings  of  a  laboring-man  look  pitifully  insignifi- 
cant. The  irony  is  complete  when  the  small  saver 
invests  his  savings  in  securities  that  have  been  created 
by  increasing  valuation.  And  the  more  property  a  man 
owns  the  more  increment  he  gets  the  benefit  of,  and  the 
easier  it  is  for  him  to  acquire  more  property.  While 
in  all  this  the  propertyless  worker  shares  not  at  all. 


THE    MODERN    COLOSSUS  49 

To  summarize :  undivided  profits  accrue  to  the  owner 
and  not  to  the  worker.  Increased  valuation  accrues  to 
the  owner  and  not  to  the  worker.  The  worker  shares 
neither  in  reinvested  profits  nor  in  the  increment,  be- 
cause he  is  not  owner.  Under  modern  large  scale 
industry  he  cannot  be  owner,  for  reasons  set  forth  in 
part  already,  and  to  be  explained  more  fully  in  the  next 
chapter.  Hence  the  enormous  increase  of  property  has 
accrued  for  the  most  part  to  the  propertied  class,  the 
propertyless  classes  remaining  propertyless  as  before. 
And  as  the  decades  pass  the  chasm  widens  and  the  con- 
centration accumulates.  To  him  that  hath  shall  be 
given,  and  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  which  he  hath.  This  is  the  fundamental 
cause  of  the  modern  social  unrest. 

An  interesting  and  suggestive  story  appeared  in  one 
of  the  magazines  some  years  ago.  A  certain  village 
doctor,  being  an  amateur  scientist  interested  in  certain 
queer  experiments,  succeeded  in  concocting  a  secret 
potion,  which,  when  administered  to  the  young  of  any 
species,  would  cause  them  to  grow  rapidly  to  monstrous 
proportions.  He  stealthily  fed  a  little  of  this  mysteri- 
ous mixture  to  a  brood  of  his  neighbor's  chicks.  In  a 
few  weeks  they  were  stepping  over  the  tops  of  the 
fences,  scratching  the  outbuildings  out  of  their  places, 
and  subsisting  on  a  diet  of  calves  and  pigs  swallowed 
whole.  A  female  rat  got  some  of  it  and  carried  it  home 
to  her  family  of  young.  Soon  the  region  was  infested 
with  rodents  more  terrible  than  tigers.  The  magazine 
showed  a  picture  of  the  doctor  himself  in  his  top  buggy 
being  chased  by  one  of  them  on  a  dark  night.  The 
cockroaches  carried  off  one  of  the  doctor's  twins. 
Through  childish  curiosity  and  the  maid's  carelessness 


50  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

the  other  twin  got  a  dose.  He  grew  too  big  to  get 
through  the  doors.  He  ate  more  than  the  doctor's 
income  could  supply.  The  doctor  went  insane;  he  had 
made  a  remarkable  scientific  discovery,  it  is  true,  but  it 
had  generated  serious  social  unrest. 

Likewise  in  our  modern  industrial  game  the  batters 
have  taken  something  mysterious,  and  behold,  they  do 
bestride  our  narrow  world  like  a  Colossus.  What  they 
have  taken  is  not  so  very  mysterious  after  all,  it  is  a 
dose  of  science  applied  to  the  invention  of  power  ma- 
chinery ,on  a  large  scale.  But  the  game  will  never  be 
the  same  kind  of  a  game  again.  Nor  will  it  ever  be  a 
happy  game  again  for  the  fielders  until  the  old  rules  are 
modified  to  meet  the  new  conditions. 

The  name  of  the  giant  is  Capitalism.  The  grievances 
of  the  masses  are  real,  not  imaginary.  To  escape  them 
they  are  increasingly  eager  to  plunge  us  all  headlong 
into  the  red  experiment  of  socialism.  If  they  do  the 
experiment  will  of  course  fail,  and  the  bloody  pendulum 
will  swing  back  and  forth  for  generations,  perhaps  for 
centuries,  but  eventually  it  will  settle  down  to  some 
sound,  just  compromise  between  the  two.  All  of  which 
may  be  prevented  if  we  of  the  middle  class  can  muster 
the  intelligence  to  invent  and  install  that  compromise 
now,  in  time  to  forestall  the  experiment. 


CHAPTER  VI 

RICARDO'S  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES 

THE  separation  of  ownership  and  labor  was  not 
sufficiently  accounted  for  in  the  last  chapter.  It 
is  obvious  that  labor  does  not  own  to  any  appre- 
ciable degree  in  modern  large  scale  industry.  But  why 
does  he  not?  Why  is  it  practically  impossible  for  the 
laboring  class  to  so  much  as  get  a  start  ?  That  is  to  be 
further  explained. 

First  consider  the  conditions  under  which  the  worker 
has  to  sell  his  labor.  He  has  to  sell  it  under  conditions 
of  keen  competition  with  other  laborers.  If  A  does  not 
take  the  job  at  the  wage  offered,  B,  C,  or  D  will.  So  if 
A  wants  the  job  he  must  be  the  first  to  answer  the  want 
"ad."  Many  establishments  carry  long  waiting  lists, 
and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  job  hunters  to  have  to 
stand  in  line. 

The  reader  must  beware  of  drawing  general  conclu- 
sions from  the  conditions  of  the  last  few  years.  For 
perfectly  obvious  reasons  there  was  an  unusually  strong 
demand  for  labor  from  1914  to  1920.  But  the  fact  is, 
such  conditions  are  unusual.  The  normal  condition 
that  has  prevailed  usually,  and  that  will  continue  to  pre- 
vail, except  in  abnormal  times,  is  a  scarcity  of  work,  not 
a  scarcity  of  workers. 

The  recognition  by  scientific  economists  that  the 
supply  of  labor  is  normally  in  excess  of  the  demand 

51 


52  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

has  a  long  and  interesting  history.  It  goes  back  at 
least  to  Malthus,  a  famous  economist  of  a  century  and 
a  quarter  ago.  Malthus  set  forth  the  principle  that 
population  tends  to  increase  by  geometric  ratio  (i.  e., 
3X3X3X3X3,  etc.),  whereas  food  supply  tends 
to  increase  only  by  arithmetic  ratio  (i.  e.,  3  +  3  +  3 
+  3  +  3,  etc.).  Hence  the  population  normally  tends 
to  overtake  the  food  supply.  The  cause  for  this  is  the 
force  of  the  reproductive  impulse.  This  is  really  a 
universal  law  of  nature :  all  species  tend  to  multiply 
faster  than  their  food  supply  will  warrant.  Hence  the 
struggle  for  existence.     Man  is  no  exception. 

According  to  Malthus  the  "positive  checks"  upon  the 
growth  of  population  are  war,  famine  and  disease.  In 
his  earlier  writings  he  implied  that  there  is  no  escape 
from  these.  Population  growth  is  one  of  the  reasons 
why  nations  struggle  for  "a  place  in  the  sun" ;  and  as 
for  famine,  China  is  the  perennial  example. 

Americans  have  been  disposed  to  make  light  of  the 
"Malthusian  bugbear,"  on  the  supposition  that  science 
can  speed  up  production  to  almost  any  limit.  The  real 
reason  for  our  blind  optimism  was  the  abundance  of 
our  new  land.  While  the  new  land  lasted  we  were  too 
shortsighted  to  foresee  that  it  would  eventually  be  occu- 
pied by  the  rapidly  growing  population.  We  now 
realize  that  the  slack  is  practically  all  taken  up,  and  that 
we  are  beginning  to  face  the  problems  of  a  dense  popu- 
lation, just  as  Europe  has  faced  them  for  a  century. 
We  now  realize  that  permanent  escape  from  the  "Mal- 
thusian bugbears"  can  never  be  achieved  by  speeding 
up  production  alone,  but  only  by  also  bringing  the 
birthrate  under  the  control  of  foresight  and  prudence, 
just  as  Malthus  said.     The  men  who  have  led  the  eco- 


RICARDOS    IRON    LAW    OF    WAGES  53 

nomic  thinking  in  this  country  since  1880  have  egregi- 
ously  underestimated  the  Malthusian  theories.  Ap- 
parently they  have  been  incapable  of  looking  a  century 
or  two  into  the  future.  But  as  Professor  Ross  re- 
marks, Malthus  is  at  par  again. 

In  his  later  writings  Malthus  recognized  "the  pre- 
ventive checks."  As  the  standard  of  living  rises  the 
birth  rate  declines.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  comment 
that  Americans  of  the  middle  and  upper  classes  have 
smaller  families  than  formerly.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  west  European  peoples.  But  among  the  lower 
classes  the  preventive  checks  do  not  operate  to  so  great 
a  degree.  Until  they  do  the  lower  classes  will  suffer 
the  consequences  of  their  excessive  birth  rate. 

Ricardo,  a  later  contemporary  of  Malthus,  carried 
the  theory  one  step  further.  He  formulated  what  has 
since  been  known  as  Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages. 
This  law  states  that  wages  normally  tend  to  gravitate 
to  the  subsistence  level.  What  ever  the  standard  of 
living  upon  which  the  laboring  class  is  accustomed  to 
subsist,  down  to  that  the  wage  scale  is  beaten.  The 
reason  for  this,  Ricardo  pointed  out,  is  the  oversupply 
of  the  labor  market,  the  fundamental  cause  of  which 
Malthus  had  made  so  clear.  Wages  cannot  rise  to  a 
higher  level  because  some  hungry  out-of-work  is  always 
at  hand  to  underbid;  and  the  lowest  bidder  naturally 
sets  the  price  for  all. 

Nor  does  the  oversupply  of  labor  state  the  case  com- 
pletely. Labor  is  not  only  in  excess  of  the  demand  for 
it,  but  it  is  also  pushed  on  the  market  at  forced  sale  as 
a  perishable  product.  If  to-day's  labor  is  not  sold  it 
cannot  be  saved  up  like  wheat  and  sold  to-morrow,  or 
next  spring.  It  is  like  over-ripe  fruit  on  Saturday  night, 


54  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

which,  if  not  sold,  will  be  rotten  by  Monday.  Any- 
thing the  fruiterer  can  get  is  better  for  him  than  not  to 
sell  at  all.  But  the  laborer's  case  is  even  worse  than 
the  fruiterer's,  because  if  the  laborer  does  not  sell  he 
and  his  family  will  go  hungry  to  bed. 

Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages  is  the  reason  why  labor- 
ing man  and  poor  man  have  always  been  synonymous 
terms.  In  ancient  times  laboring  men  were  exploited 
as  slaves,  because  there  were  so  many  of  them.  The 
pyramids  of  Egypt  are  monuments  to  Ricardo's  iron 
law  of  wages.  In  medieval  times  laboring  men  were 
exploited  as  serfs,  because  there  were  so  many  of  them. 
In  Europe  farmers  to  this  day  are  semi-medieval  peas- 
ants; only  on  the  abundant  acres  of  America,  where 
labor  has  been  relatively  scarce,  have  farmers  arisen  to 
the  level  of  free  men.  And  in  modern  industry  labor- 
ing men  are  wont  to  regard  their  poverty  as  "wage 
slavery,"  because  there  are  so  many  of  them.  The 
validity  and  importance  of  this  Ricardian  theory  of 
wages  has  been  quite  as  much  underestimated  as  the 
Malthusian  theory  of  which  it  is  a  corollary,  and  for 
the  same  reasons.  But  it  is  central  to  any  intelligent 
comprehension  of  industrial  relations  to-day.  Ricardo 
as  well  as  Malthus  is  coming  back. 

History  occasionally  throws  up  exceptional  situa- 
tions in  which  labor  really  becomes  scarce  for  a  time, 
whereupon  Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages  is  negatively 
illustrated.  During  the  fourteenth  century  the  Black 
Death  swept  over  England,  carrying  off,  it  is  esti- 
mated, approximately  half  the  population.  The  labor- 
ers immediately  took  advantage  of  the  scarcity  to  de- 
mand higher  wages.     Cheney  x  quotes  a  contemporary 

1  "Industrial  and  Social  History  of  England,"  pp.  99-m. 


RICARDO'S   IRON   LAW   OF    WAGES  55 

chronicler  as  saying  that  "laborers  were  so  elated  and 
contentious  that  they  did  not  pay  any  attention  to  the 
command  of  the  king,  and  if  anybody  wanted  to  hire 
them  he  was  bound  to  pay  them  what  they  asked,  and 
so  he  had  his  choice  either  to  lose  his  harvest  and  crops 
or  give  in  to  the  proud  and  covetous  desires  of  the 
workmen."  Laws  were  enacted  punishing  laborers  by 
imprisonment,  branding,  and  confinement  in  the  stocks 
for  refusing  to  work  at  the  old  wages.  The  fact  that 
Parliament  represented  only  the  employers  served  the 
more  to  embitter  the  laboring  class  at  these  laws;  and 
though  they  were  reenacted  thirteen  times  wages  did 
not  return  to  the  old  level.  On  the  other  hand  the 
influence  of  the  Black  Death  upon  the  wage  rate  con- 
stituted an  important  step  in  the  evolution  of  English 
civil  liberty.  But  however  effective  the  death  of  half 
their  number  proved  on  that  occasion  as  a  means  of 
raising  their  wages  above  the  Ricardian  level,  it  has 
nevertheless  failed  since  of  general  acceptance  by  the 
laboring  class  as  a  means  to  that  end.  They  prefer  to 
put  a  limit  to  competition  among  themselves  by  arti- 
ficial devices. 

We  have  just  passed  through  a  somewhat  similar 
experience,  though  for  wholly  different  causes.  Pro- 
fessor Friday  !  has  shown  that  commodities  during 
the  war  period,  far  from  being  scarce,  were  produced 
in  normal  quantities.  Business  as  usual  was  the  slogan. 
Production  of  ordinary  commodities  did  not  slow  down. 
We  took  on  the  manufacture  of  munitions  for  Europe 
before  191 7,  and  all  the  work  involved  in  our  own 
entrance  into  the  war,  as  an  extra  effort.  We  speeded 
up,  we  increased  our  efficiency,  we  worked  overtime, 

« "Wages,  Profits  and  Prices,"  pp.  1,  235. 


56  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

we  drafted  women  and  boys.  In  other  words  the  war 
increased  the  demand  for  labor  out  of  all  proportions 
to  the  normal  demand.  There  was  the  extra  demand 
for  labor  to  build  cantonments,  ships,  and  equipment. 
Four  million  men  were  drafted  out  of  productive  labor 
into  the  army.  But  all  this  demand,  Friday  shows, 
was  extra  demand.  The  usual  peace  time  demand  for 
labor  for  the  usual  industries  continued  as  usual.  The 
slack  was  taken  up.  Nearly  everybody  that  wanted 
a  job  had  one.  There  were  no  tramps.  Vagrancy 
was  reduced  almost  to  zero.  Gradually  wages  re- 
sponded to  the  demand.  Up  to  19 19  the  high  prices 
we  of  the  middle  class  paid  were  due  to  profits,  it  is 
true;  but  as  the  demand  for  labor  increased,  profits 
were  gradually  transferred  to  wages.  During  191 9 
and  1920  the  high  prices  we  paid  were  going  mostly  to 
the  "proud  and  covetous  workmen."  Not  only  were 
wages  increased,  but  labor  became  so  independent  and 
"contentious"  that  its  efficiency  was  very  considerably 
reduced.  This  continued  till  the  fall  of  1920,  by  which 
time  profits  were  all  being  absorbed  in  wages,  where- 
upon the  managers  of  industry  began  to  curtail  pro- 
duction. We  are  now  (1922)  returning  to  normal, 
that  is,  to  a  condition  in  which  the  supply  of  labor 
exceeds  the  demand,  and  unemployment  is  sufficient  to 
maintain  the  "morale"  of  labor. 

The  point  is  that  an  oversupply  of  labor  is  the  usual 
condition.  It  is  generally  understood  that  about 
2,000,000  is  the  usual  number  of  unemployed  in  normal 
times.  Evidences  of  this  condition  have  frequently  been 
demonstrated  statistically.  Streightoff x  refers  to  an  ex- 
haustive statistical  investigation  made  by  the  Bureau  of 
1  "The  Standard  of  Living." 


RICARDO  S   IRON    LAW   OF    WAGES 


57 


Labor  in  New  York  state  covering  a  period  of  eight 
years,  from  1902  to  1909  inclusive.  The  percentage  of 
unemployment  among  organized  wage  earners  for  every 
month  during  that  entire  period  was  ascertained.  The 
table  is  inserted  herewith.  The  average  for  the  period 
was  between  sixteen  and  seventeen  per  cent.  In  other 
words,  among  organized  wage  earners  the  usual  and 
regular  thing  was  for  one  out  of  every  six  to  be  out  of 
a  job.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  unemployment  was 
even  greater  among  unorganized,  unskilled  workers. 
The  daily  hunt  of  these  jobless  for  a  job  is  what  en- 
forces Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages.  And  these  were 
normal  years,  during  which  capital  was  accumulating 
out  of  undivided  profits  at  the  rate  described  on 
page  46. 

Number  and  Proportion  of  Unemployed  Wage-earners  * 

Per  cent  idle 


Month 


1909  1908    1907    1906  1905  1904  1903  1902 


25.8 

20.5 

20.9 

21.6 

17.8 

18.7 

27.1 

17.6 

17-3 

17.0 

17-3 

15-3 

IS  -9 

20.2 

14.0 

I.V7 

23.1 

145 

14.8 

17.8 

15-0 

13-7 

15-4 

7.1 

12.0 

9.4 

6.3 

10.8 

1 1.7 

1 1.2 

1  i.l 

16.4 

14-3 

19.6 

231 

22.2 

16.9 

17-5 

14.8 

January- 
February 
March 
April 
May 

June 
uly 
August 

September  190 
October  190 
November  190 
December    190 


192 
192 
192 
192 
192 
192 
190 
190 


Mean  for  year 


88,604 
89.396 
90,619 
89.039 
89,241 
89,227 
89-551 
90,429 
90,783 
91,247 
9i,977 
91,162 


25,964 
23,727 
20,836 
18,042 
15,228 
15,503 
12,459 
10.799 
13,171 
12,468 
12,206 
18,791 


29-3 
26.5 
23.0 
20.3 
17. 1 
17.4 
13-9 
11.9 
14-5 
13-7 
13-3 
20.6 
18.5 


36.9 
37-5 
37-5 
33-9 
32.2 
30.2 
26.8 
24.6 
24.6 

231 

21.5 
28.0 
29.7 


21.5 
20.1 
18.3 
10. 1 
10.  s 
8.1 
8-5 
12. 1 
12.3 
18.5 
22.0 
32.7 
16.2 


15.0 

22.5 

15-3 

19.4 

1 1.6 

19.2 

7-3 

11.8 

7.0 

8.3 

6.3 

9.1 

7.6 

8.0 

5-8 

7-2 

6.3 

5-9 

6.Q 

5-6 

7-6 

6.1 

1 5-4 

11. 1 

9-3 

11. 2 

1  Annual   Reports,    Bureau   of   Labor    Statistics,   New   York,   and   Depart- 
ment of  Labor  Bulletins. 

The  oversupply  of  labor  is  not  a  modern  nor  a  new 
condition.  It  is  age-old  and  perennial.  But  it  is  a  con- 
dition that  modern  machinofacture  has  by  no  means 


58  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

abolished.  Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages  remains  in 
force  as  long  as  there  are  more  workers  than  jobs.  The 
new  feature  is  the  vastness  of  the  capital  from  sharing 
in  which  labor  is  debarred.  The  capital  involved  in  the 
old  handicraft  industry  was  so  small  that  small  savings, 
thriftily  hoarded,  eventually  gave  the  worker  a  toe  hold 
in  the  investment.  But  in  modern  machinofacture  in- 
dustry the  capital  involved  is  so  vast  that  the  savings 
of  a  lifetime  are  like  the  proverbial  drop  in  the  bucket. 
The  laborers'  hope  of  acquiring  a  controlling  voice  in 
the  management  by  investing  their  savings  is  a  nega- 
tive quantity,  their  influence  in  the  management  is  a 
declining  ratio.  "And  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be 
taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath !" 

Not  only  do  we  have  statistics  showing  that  an 
over  supply  of  labor  is  a  fact,  but  statistical  research 
has  also  shown  over  and  over  again  that  the  resultant 
wages  of  labor  are  exactly  what  the  theory  would  lead 
us  to  expect.  Wages  actually  do  tend  to  gravitate 
to  the  subsistence  level.  A  glance  at  the  tables  and 
charts  in  the  next  chapter,  with  special  attention  to  the 
incomes  of  the  poor,  will  reveal  the  facts  in  a  general 
way.  Streightoff  reports *  that  among  the  25,440 
families  studied  in  1901  by  the  U.  S.  Commissioner 
of  Labor,  99.28  per  cent  of  the  husbands  were  at  work, 
but  only  35.74  per  cent  of  the  families  lived  upon  his 
earnings  alone.  In  1890  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Labor  studied  the  family  life  of  employees  in  the  cotton, 
woolen  and  glass  industries,  and  found  that  the  father 
was.  the  sole  bread  winner  in  only  23.1  per  cent  of 
families  in  the  cotton,  of  49.6  per  cent  in  the  woolen, 
and  of  64.1  per  cent  in  the  glass  industry.    This  means, 

1  "The  Standard  of  Living,"  p.  59. 


RICARDO  S   IRON    LAW   OF    WAGES  59 

of  course,  that  the  earnings  of  these  men  were  below 
the  subsistence  level  for  a  family.  It  suggests  that  the 
subsistence  of  an  unmarried  man  is  the  level  down  to 
which  the  Ricardian  principle  tends  to  depress  wages. 
Streightoff  further  says  that  according  to  the  Census 
of  Manufactures  *  4,244,538  men  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing in  1905  received  an  average  income  of 
$533.93.  At  that  time  approximately  $700  represented 
the  lowest  level  of  physical  necessities. 

The  following  facts  relative  to  the  manufacturing 
branch  of  the  steel  industry  were  brought  out  by  the 
studies  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement 2  in  19 19. 
Competent  authorities  estimated  that  in  that  year 
$2,024  was  the  "minimum  of  comfort"  level,  and 
$1,575  was  the  "minimum  of  subsistence"  level  for  a 
family  of  five.  But  in  that  year  72,771  unskilled 
workers  in  the  manufacturing  branch  of  the  Steel  Cor- 
poration's business  (i.  e.,  38.1  per  cent  of  all)  were 
getting  annual  average  earnings  $109  below  the  "mini- 
mum of  subsistence"  level,  and  $558  below  the  "mini- 
mum of  comfort"  level.  Thus  it  appears  that  Ricardo 
will  not  down. 

Dr.  Hadley,  until  recently  President  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, published,  in  1884,  a  since  famous  book  on 
"Railroad  Transportation."  He  threw  in  parentheti- 
cally a  paragraph  on  the  fundamental  principles  under- 
lying labor  organization.  Doubtless  the  reader  will  be 
interested  in  what  a  man  of  President  Hadley's  stand- 
ing has  to  say  on  this  important  subject : 

"There  is  another  aspect  of  our  subject,  still  more 
serious  than  any  we  have  yet  treated,  which  we  can  do 

1  "The  Standard  of  Living,"  p.  59. 
a"The  Steel  Strike  of  1919,"  p.  93  ff. 


6o  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

little  more  than  touch  upon — the  competition  and  com- 
bination of  labor.  Labor  is  in  the  market,  like  any 
commodity;  its  price  is  largely  determined  by  competi- 
tion, and  this  too  often  takes  the  form  of  cut-throat 
competition.  A  workman  working  for  starvation 
wages  is  like  a  factory  or  railroad  running  for  opera- 
ting expenses.  In  flush  times  the  workman  gets  com- 
paratively good  wages ;  he  marries,  and  is  able  to  sup- 
port a  family  in  reasonable  comfort.  This  family 
becomes  a  fixed  charge  upon  him;  and  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  society  that  he  should  be  able  to 
meet  his  fixed  charges  in  this  respect.  But  a  commer- 
cial crisis  comes,  and  the  demand  for  labor  diminishes. 
Men  who  have  no  family  to  support  come  into  direct 
competition  with  him.  He  can  better  afford  to  work 
for  what  will  keep  body  and  soul  together  than  not  to 
work  at  all,  even  though  his  wages  are  brought  so  low 
that  his  children  perish  for  lack  of  the  food  which 
should  give  them  strength  to  resist  disease.  And  so 
wages  are  brought  down  to  the  starvation  minimum, 
only  to  rise  above  it  after  long  years  of  waiting  and 
misery.  The  workman  seeks  relief  in  combination; 
but  combination  is  far  harder  for  him  than  for  the 
capitalist.  Where  there  are  ten  factories  to  combine, 
there  may  be  ten  thousand  workmen  to  be  held  to- 
gether— not  to  speak  of  the  almost  unlimited  floating 
labor  supply  which  may  be  brought  in  at  any  point. 
The  law  will  not  help  him.  If  the  law  regards  the  pool 
with  disfavor,  it  regards  most  of  the  manifestations  of 
trades-unionism  with  absolute  hostility.1  No  wonder 
that  our  workmen  try  to  change  the  law;  no  wonder 

1  The  attitude  of  legislatures  and  courts  has  materially  changed 
in  this  respect  since  1884. 


RICARDO'S   IRON    LAW   OF    WAGES  6l 

they  call  for  special  statutes  against  labor  importation ; 
no  wonder  that  they  seek  to  limit  the  supply  in  the 
market  by  a  universal  eight-hour  law.  Whether  rightly 
or  wrongly,  we  do  not  here  inquire;  it  is  beyond  our 
purpose  to  discuss  what  general  improvement  is  prac- 
ticable in  this  field.  We  only  call  attention  to  the  close 
relation  between  the  two  problems  of  starvation  wages 
and  bankrupt  competition.  If  capitalists  and  working- 
men  can  but  see  this  analogy,  it  may  help  them  to  an 
understanding  of  one  another's  position." 

To  summarize:  It  is  Ricardo's  iron  law  of  wages 
that  explains  why  the  laborer,  particularly  the  unskilled 
laborer,  does  not  share  in  the  ownership  of  modern 
large  scale  property.  Since  his  wages  normally  tend 
to  gravitate,  because  of  the  oversupply  of  labor,  to  the 
subsistence  level,  the  margin  out  of  which  he  can  save 
is  discouragingly  insignificant.  He  is  too  near  the 
"poverty  line."  He  has  all  he  can  do  merely  to  hold  his 
job  at  a  subsistence  wage,  to  say  nothing  of  contesting 
undivided  profits  and  ownership  with  the  colossal  cor- 
poration that  employs  him.  This,  precisely  this !  is  his 
handicap  and  the  reason  for  his  discontent. 

The  human  mind  is  a  marvellous  instrument ;  it  has 
a  wonderful  affinity  for  the  old  and  familiar.  As  a 
rule  it  offers  quite  successful  resistance  against  infec- 
tion by  an  idea  that  is  new.  It  is  the  easiest  thing  in 
the  world  to  read  a  book  with  a  new  idea  in  it,  and  get 
everything  in  the  book  except  the  new  idea.  But  that 
hurts  the  writer's  feelings.  Writers  are  sensitive  souls. 
If  they  go  to  the  trouble  to  write  a  whole  book  for  the 
purpose  of  saying  one  or  two  things  in  particular, 
they  really  do  like  to  have  those  one  or  two  things 
taken  particular  notice  of.     If  the  two  of  us  are  to 


62  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

profit  by  our  quiet  little  session  together  it  is  really- 
necessary,  therefore,  that  the  writer  say  one  or  two 
things  in  such  a  way  that  the  reader  will  take  notice 
of  them.  One  thing  in  particular :  there  are  not  jobs 
enough  to  go  around.  Let  it  be  conceded  that  the 
writer  is  red,  green,  yellow  or  any  other  color  the 
reader  may  wish.  Quite  apart  from  the  writer's  color, 
here  is  a  fact.  F-a-c-t,  fact !  There  are  more  workers 
than  jobs !  Every  investigation  that  has  ever  been 
made  shows  that  there  is  always  a  very  considerable 
amount  of  unemployment,  approximately  2,000,000 
usually. 

Let  the  reader  look  this  fact  steadily  in  the  face. 
Whatever  else  may  be  said  about  it,  let  him  note  that 
this  fact  is  a  cause.  Every  fact  is  a  cause ;  no  fact  can 
escape  being  a  cause.  But  this  fact  is  a  very  significant 
cause  in  our  social  and  industrial  situation.  In  the 
writer's  opinion  there  is  no  more  significant  causal 
fact  in  the  social  field.  The  writer  has  built  this  book 
chiefly  to  throw  the  spot  light  on  this  fact  and  its 
implications,  in  the  belief  that  most  Americans  fail  to 
discern  the  results  it  produces  when  it  does  business  as 
a  cause. 

The  effects  are  in  plain  sight  if  any  one  will  but 
open  his  eyes.  It  causes  the  wages  of  labor,  especially 
unskilled  labor,  to  gravitate  to  the  subsistence  level, 
according  to  Ricardo's  theory,  and  as  all  available 
statistics  verify.  It  prevents  the  laboring  class  from 
saving  to  any  effective  extent.  It  prevents  them  from 
becoming  owners  in  modern  large  scale  industry.  It 
excludes  labor  from  any  voice  in  the  management.  It 
is  producing  the  polarization  of  modern  society.     It  is 


RICARDO'S   IRON    LAW    OF    WAGES  63 

the  fundamental,  underlying  cause  of  the  present,  wide 
spread  social  protest. 

This  protest  is  sometimes  condensed  into  a  sort  of 
slogan,  to  the  effect  that  labor  is  not  a  commodity. 
This  is  intended  to  mean  that  labor  ought  not  to  be 
treated  as  such.     To  regard  labor  as  a  commodity  is  to 
leave  the  regulation  of  wages  entirely  to  the  merciless 
play  of  supply  and  demand,  just  as  we  think  right  in 
the  case  of  corn  or  coal.     This  is  the  way  labor  has 
too  often  been  thought  of  in  the  traditional  economics. 
The  purpose  for  which  Malthus  at  first  put  forth  his 
theories  was  to  prove  that  poverty  is  inevitable.     His 
book  was  originally  written  to  reassure  reactionaries 
in  their  belief  that  poverty  and  misery  are  unavoidable 
■ — there  was  unrest  in  England,  then,  due  to  the  first 
introduction  of  machines  and  to  the  Napoleonic  wars. 
It  was  only  in  his  later  thinking  that  he  discovered  a 
way  out  and  a  ground  for  optimism.     But  that  phase 
of  his  work  was,  for  the  most  part,  overlooked.     For 
two  generations  thereafter  political  economy  was  re- 
ferred to  as  the  dismal   science.     But  the  heart   of 
humanity  rebelled;  the  faith  of  humanity  refused  to 
believe  that  fundamental  human  rights  are  impossible 
of  achievement.     This  faith  is  summed  up  in  the  asser- 
tion that  labor  is  not  a  commodity ;  which  implies  that, 
regardless  of  supply  and  demand  in  the  labor  market, 
every  honest,  capable  worker  has  a  right  to  living  wage 
and  a  decent  American  standard  of  living;  that  Ri- 
cardo's  iron  law  of  wages  can  be  nullified  by  human 
reason  and  invention,  just  as  the  aeroplane  nullifies 
Newton's  law  of  gravitation ;  and  that  it  is  the  bounden 
duty  of  a  democratic  Christian  civilization  to  discover 


64  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

the  solution  to  this  problem.  Which  will  not  be  easy, 
will  it,  as  long  as  there  are  more  laborers  than  jobs,  so 
that  laborers  naturally  beat  one  another's  wages  down 
to  the  subsistence  level  by  competition  among  them- 
selves? 

But  Ricardo  himself  suggested  a  way  out.  There  is 
something  strange,  almost  perverse,  about  the  way  re- 
cent economists  have  missed  the  fundamental  validity 
and  great  significance  of  Malthus  and  Ricardo.  Their 
theories  deserve  to  rank  among  the  great  generaliza- 
tions of  a  great  century.  It  was  none  other  than 
Malthus  that  suggested  the  secret  of  evolution  to  Dar- 
win. And  if  social  evolution  is  ever  to  shift  to  a  new 
gear,  so  that  the  horror  will  be  removed  from  a  ruth- 
less struggle  for  existence,  if  the  age-old  miseries  that 
humanity  has  suffered  from  low  wages,  poverty, 
famine,  over-crowding,  pestilence  and  war,  are  ever 
to  be  finally  escaped,  it  will  not  be  by  the  nineteenth 
century's  fanatical  faith  in  increasing  production,  but 
through  the  preventive  measures  suggested  by  Malthus 
and  Ricardo.  Ricardo's  own  means  of  escape  from 
the  iron  law  of  wages  will  be  set  forth  in  a  later 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH 

IN  the  last  two  chapters  causes  have  been  set  forth. 
Let  us  now  turn  to  results.  The  extreme  differ- 
ences of  wealth  and  poverty  are  the  result. 
The  facts  relative  to  the  distribution  of  wealth  are 
well  known  to  sociologists  and  economists.  A  number 
of  very  thorough  statistical  studies  have  been  made 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  all  of  which  point  in 
the  same  general  direction.  Of  those  now  commonly 
referred  to  in  sociological  literature,  the  earliest  was 
"The  Present  Distribution  of  Wealth  in  the  United 
States,"  by  Spahr,  published  in  1896.  "The  Social 
Unrest,"  by  John  Graham  Brooks,  appeared  in  1903. 
"Poverty,"  by  Robert  Hunter,  was  copyrighted  in 
1904.  It  produced  a  profound  impression  upon  the 
public  mind.  Streightoff  published  two  books,  one  on 
"The  Standard  of  Living  Among  the  Industrial  People 
of  America,"  in  191 1,  and  another  on  "The  Distribu- 
tion of  Incomes  in  the  United  States,"  in  1912.  A 
more  recent  book  (191 5)  on  this  general  subject  is  that 
by  W.  I.  King,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin :  "The 
Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the  United  States;" 
its  findings  accord  quite  closely  with  all  the  earlier 
studies.  The  latest  contribution  in  this  field  is  "The 
Income  in  the  United  States"  (1921),  by  Mitchell, 
Macaulay,  King  and  Knauth,  a  survey  under  the 
auspices  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research. 

65 


66  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

The  reader  will  be  interested  in  some  summarized 
statements  of  the  findings  of  this  statistical  research. 
The  following  table  is  taken  from  Dr.  Spahr's  *  book : 


Aggregate     Average 
Wealth  Wealth 


The  United  States,  1890 
Number 

125,000    $33,000,000,000   $264,000 

23,000,000,000       16,000 

8,200,000,000 


Estates 
The  Wealthy  Classes,  $50,000 

and   over    

The  Well-to-do  Classes,  $50,- 

000  to  $5,000 i,375,ooo 

The    Middle    Classes,    $5,000 

to  $500    5,500,000 

The    Poorer    Classes,    under 

$500    5,500,000  800,000,000 


1,500 
150 


$5,200 


12,500,000    $65,000,000,000 

He  supplements  the  table  with  this  comment:  "The 
conclusion  reached,  therefore,  is  as  follows :  Less  than 
half  the  families  in  America  are  propertyless ;  never- 
theless, seven-eighths  of  the  families  hold  but  one- 
eighth  of  the  national  wealth,  while  one  per  cent  of 
the  families  hold  more  than  the  remaining  ninety-nine." 
The  following,  from  Robert  Hunter's  "Poverty,"  2 
is  significant  as  confirming  the  findings  of  earlier 
investigators : 

Distribution  of  Wealth  in  the  United  States 


Class 

Families 

Per 

Cent 

Average 
Wealth 

Aggregate 
Wealth 

Per 

Cent 

Rich    

Middle   

Poor  

Very  poor.. . . 

125,000 
1,362,500 
4,762,500 
6,250,000 

1.0 

10.9 

38.1 

50.0 

$263,040 

14,180 

i,639 

$32,880,000,000 

19,320,000,000 

7,800,000,000 

54-8 
32.2 
130 

Total    

12,500,000 

1 00.0 

$4,800 

$60,000,000,000 

1 00.0 

1  See    Spahr's    "The    Present    Distribution    of    Wealth    in   the 
United  States,"  p.  69. 
1  Pp.  44,  60. 


THE   DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH 


67 


Diagrams  Showing,  by  Percentages,  the  Population  and 
Wealth  Distribution  in  the  United  States 


Population 


Wealth 


Middle,         10.9 
Poor,  38.1 


Rich,  54.8 


Very  Poor,  50. 


yam 


Middle, 
Poor, 


32.2 
13. 


Hunter  adds :  "Without  committing  ourselves  im- 
plicitly to  them  (i.e.,  these  figures),  we  must  acknowl- 
edge that  they  indicate  an  inequality  of  wealth  distri- 
bution which  should  have  before  now  received  exhaus- 
tive investigation  by  our  official  statisticians."  .  .  . 
"On  the  whole,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  most  conserva- 
tive estimate  that  can  fairly  be  made  of  the  distress 
existing  in  the  industrial  states  is  14  per  cent  of  the 
total  population;  while  in  all  probability  no  less  than 
20  per  cent  of  the  people  in  these  states,  in  ordinarily 
prosperous  years,  are  in  poverty."  "This  brings  us 
to  the  conclusion  .  .  .  that  not  less  than  10,000,000 
persons  in  the  United  States  are  in  poverty."  By 
"poverty"  Hunter  means  a  financial  condition  in  which 
it  is  impossible,  or  only  barely  possible,  to  provide  for 
the  most  elemental  physical  needs,  and  which  is  at- 
tended with  misery. 


68  CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

King's  estimates  are  indicated  in  the  following  table : 


People 
Wealth 


■  People 
S  Income 


65% 
60% 

55% 
50% 

45% 
40% 
35% 
30% 
25% 
20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 


Distribution  of  Wealth 


Distribution  of  Income 


King's  Findings  Graphically  Presented 
He  also  adds :  "The  richest  one  per  cent  of  the  men 
dying  owned  almost  one-half  of  the  value  of  all  the 
estates,  while  one-fourth  of  the  entire  property  was  in 
the  hands  of  one  four-hundredth  part  of  the  people. 
Population  Wealth  Owned  Income  Received 

Richest     2%     60%     20% 

Middle    33%     33%     4*% 

Poorest  65%     6%     39% 

This  means  that  each  of  these  men  in  the  richest  four- 
hundredth  part  of  the  population  possessed  a  hundred 


THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH  69 

times   the   wealth   of    the   average   citizen."     (King, 
p.  82.) 

According  to  the  study  of  the  National  Bureau  of 
Economic  Research  of  incomes  in  191 8,  86  per  cent  of 
those  gainfully  employed  got  incomes  of  less  than  $2000 
(about  $1000  on  the  19 13  price  level)  or  40  per  cent  of 
the  national  income.  On  the  other  hand  only  1  per 
cent  of  the  people  get  14  per  cent  of  the  total  income, 
and  that  includes  all  incomes  of  $8,000  or  more.  This 
survey  makes  no  report  on  the  ownership  of  property, 
but  only  on  the  receipt  of  income.  The  findings  may 
be  presented  as  follows: 

Of  Population  Of  National  Income  Amount  Received 

Most  prosperous     1%  14%  $8000,  or  more 

5%  26%  3200, 

*  10%  35%  2300, 

20%  47%  1700, 

Least  prosperous  86%  40%  2000  (less  than) 

The  foregoing  estimates  have  been  quite  generally 
accepted  by  careful  social  scientists,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  reason  for  doubting  their  validity. 

Moreover,  the  concentration  of  wealth  has  been 
growing  steadily  ever  since  the  Civil  War.  In  the 
quotation  from  Professor  Ely,  a  few  pages  below,  he 
makes  reference  to  this  tendency,  and  points  out  some 
of  the  causes.  According  to  King's  studies  the  con- 
centration of  wealth,  and  especially  of  income,  very 
perceptibly  increased  between  1896  and  19 10.  He 
says :  "If  all  the  estimates  cited  are  correct,  it  indicates 
that,  since  1896,  there  has  occurred  a  marked  concen- 
tration of  income  in  the  hands  of  the  very  rich ;  that  the 
poor  have,  relatively,  lost  but  little ;  but  that  the  middle 
class  has  been  the  principal  sufferer.  This  evidence  of 
increasing  concentration  would  accord  with  the  infer- 


JO  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

ence  drawn  from  the  decreasing  share  of  the  product 
going  to  wages,  which  was  discussed  in  the  early  part 
of  this  chapter."  x  In  another  place  (p.  179)  he  dis- 
tinctly states  that  "commodity  wages"  declined  between 
1896  and  1 91 5.  According  to  King's  study,  39  per 
cent  of  the  national  income  was  received  by  65  per  cent 
of  the  people;  according  to  the  later  study  of  the  Na- 
tional Bureau  of  Research,  it  took  86  per  cent  to  re- 
ceive practically  the  same  percentage  (40  per  cent)  of 
the  national  income. 

There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  recent  war 
period  saw  this  tendency  toward  concentration  of 
wealth  accelerated.  The  public  imagination  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  high  money  wages  of  labor 
during  this  period.  Employers  have  made  the  most  of 
the  facts  for  purposes  of  propaganda,  but  the  public  is 
always  liable  to  overlook  the  rise  in  prices  of  rent,  food 
and  clothing.  Labor,  especially  unskilled  labor,  was 
not  so  prosperous  as  the  public  has  been  induced  to 
imagine.  An  article2  in  The  Journal  of  Political 
Economy  for  January,  1920,  discusses  the  available 
data  at  some  length,  but  without  reaching  definite  con- 
clusions ;  but  showing  evidence  that  labor  certainly  had 
not  entered  a  new  era  of  luxury :  "Farm  laborers,"  the 
writer  says,  "seemed  to  have  fared  better  than  their 
brethren  in  the  city  factories.  For  both  groups  the  rate 
of  wages  rose  less  rapidly  than  did  the  general  price 
level."  As  for  teachers,  ministers,  civil  service  em- 
ployees, and  salaried  employees  in  general,  they  "have 
contributed  the  most  heavily,"  having  been  employed 

*See  "The  Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,"  p.  231. 
•By  Jacob  Viner,  University  of  Chicago. 


THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH 


71 


"at  rates  only  slightly  above  the  pre-war  levels." 
Edward  T.  Devine x  has  shown  that  the  severest  suf- 
ferers from  the  high  cost  of  living  were  that  large  class 
who  in  normal  times  are  barely  able  to  maintain  a 
precarious  self-support.  The  fundamental  necessities 
of  life  advanced  in  price  far  more  than  the  wages  this 
class  was  able  to  earn.  The  advance  in  rents  pinched 
them  even  more  than  the  advance  in  foods.  It  is  prob- 
ably safe  to  assume  that  organized  skilled  labor  was 
the  only  class  of  wage  earners  that  were  able  to  take 
1  Survey,  Sept.   15,  1920. 


250 
240 
230 
220 
210 
200 
100 
180 
170 
100 
150 
140 
130 
120 
110 
100 
00 

— 

1 

80 
70 
60 
60 

c 
c 
0 

r   : 
)   : 

0  a 

a    t 
t>  c 

3  - 
>  ; 
b  c 

H   c 

=  1 
»  e 

!       ■ 
3   C 
B  S 

3  - 
-1  t 
a    c 

■  k 
>    c 
D  c 

3   0 

3  e 

i  - 

3   •' 

2  e 

B   C 

- 

B   . 

5  : 

3          T 

b  e 

3  - 

-"  c 
B   S 

> 

a    c 

3  • 

3   1 

m    1 

B  ^ 

3   I 

3   1 

■   C 
2   C 

2  ; 

B 

-1  < 

D   H 

B   03 

THE  TREND   OF   PRICES:    INDEX    NUMBERS   AT  THE  LEFB 


*J2.  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

any  real  advantage  of  the  situation  up  to  about  the 
middle  of  1919. 

To  whom  have  the  high  prices  been  paid  then  ?     This 
question  is  partly  answered  by  the  following  table:1 


-  c     g 

flj  d   <y  y^ 


?v?.g 


C  o 


u 

O 

u 

^n^ 

V 

<u  > 
bo  O 

E 

£j_o 

<u  > 
bo  0 

jS  D 

0 

3  rt  c« 

iS  <u 

O   rt 

c  52 

-a  >-  c 

c  52 

§2 

Sum 

1— 1 

coo 

t— 1  a.ic 

_4.    !-.  — 1 

aj  y  ^ 

Burea 

Whol< 
Index 

507 

100 

14-3 

381 

—  24.9 

99 

194 

664 

31.0 

100 

102.0 

1,364 

169.0 

123 

I4I-9 

1,750 

245-1 

175 

1 18.9 

185 

1913 $4,340 

1914 3,711 

1915 5,184 

1916 8,766 

1917 10,500 

1918 9,500 


The  conclusion  of  Professor  Viner's  article  ("Who 
Paid  for  the  War  ?")  is  that  there  was  an  actual  increase 
(instead  of  decrease)  in  production  during  the  war,  due 
to  the  increased  utilization  of  the  nation's  capital  and 
labor  resources,  that  the  additional  production  "inured 
in  large  part  as  profits  to  certain  groups,  and  then 
(was)  turned  over  to  the  government  as  loans  instead 
of  as  taxes."  This  was  the  case,  at  least,  up  to  the 
summer  of  191 9.  After  that,  till  the  shut-down  in 
the  fall  of  1920,  labor  had  its  brief  innings.2 

"Congressmen  Rainey  of  Illinois  and  Griffin  of  New 
York  spent  some  time  during  the  closing  days  of  the 
session  in  discovering  the  number  of  new  millionaires 

Quoted  by  Viner  from  David  Friday's  "The  War  and  the 
Supply  of  Capital,"  in  American  Economic  Review  Supplement, 
March,  1919,  p.  89. 

2  See  page  56  above. 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF   WEALTH  73 

the  war  brought  us.  A  preliminary  compilation  of  the 
income  tax  returns,  according  to  Congressman  Rainey, 
shows  the  following  figures : 

Number  in  class 
Income  range  1914  1919 

Above  $x,ooo,ooo 60  248 

$500,000  to  $1,000,000 114  405 

$300,000  to  $500,000 294  580 

$200,000  to  $300,000 363  1,100 

$100,000  to  $200,000 1,595  4,70O 

Total  above  $100,000 2,426  7,033 


"There  is  thus  nearly  a  three-fold  increase  in  the 
number  of  those  receiving  big  incomes  and  those  in  the 
class  in  1914  added  vastly  to  their  incomes  during  the 
war.  In  1919  one  man  reported  an  income  of  $34,- 
000,000;  two  reported  more  than  $16,000,000;  and 
five  had  more  than  $5,000,000  each.  As  will  be  noted 
by  the  above  table,  248  were  receiving  more  than 
$1,000,000  a  year  each."  * 

The  percentages  of  distribution  set  forth  in  the  chart 
on  page  68  would  seem  to  be  predetermined  by  the 
sieves  in  our  industrial  machine.  According  to  our 
constitution  only  half  a  dozen  men  more  or  less  can 
be  Presidents  of  the  United  States  during  a  generation. 
The  rest  may  be  ever  so  ambitious  and  capable,  but 
they  have  to  be  content  with  something  less.  There 
are  more  chances  for  them  to  be  school  directors. 
The  organization  of  our  institutions  is  such  that  we 
utilize  about  115,000  lawyers,  150,000  doctors,  120,000 
clergymen,  and  600,000  teachers.  However  ambitious 
the  average  youth  may  be  to  get  into  these  professions, 
those  in  excess  of  the  figures  enumerated  above  will  be 
*From  an  unverified  newspaper  clipping. 


74  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR    SOCIAL   UNREST 

disappointed,  because  our  society  is  not  organized  to 
place  them.  Of  course,  which  persons  are  picked  to 
fill  these  positions  and  which  are  rejected  depends  partly 
on  the  personality  of  the  individuals;  but  the  number 
is  fixed  in  advance.  The  same  is  true  of  distribution 
of  wealth.  Our  industrial  institutions  are  so  organized 
that  to  the  ownership  of  sixty  per  cent  of  our  wealth 
only  two  per  cent  of  our  people  are  admitted.  Who 
shall  be  picked  for  membership  in  that  two  per  cent 
depends  partly  upon  the  personality  of  the  individuals 
and  partly  upon  the  accident  of  birth;  however  ambi- 
tious or  capable  the  other  98  per  cent  may  be  they  can- 
not qualify.  The  number  of  successful  candidates  is 
predetermined  just  as  definitely  as  is  the  percentage  of 
men  in  any  generation  who  may  belong  to  the  United 
States  Senate. 

The  facts  and  principles  set  forth  in  the  two  pre- 
ceding chapters  make  it  clear  that  this  excessive  con- 
centration of  wealth,  on  the  one  hand,  and  this  vast 
extent  of  poverty  on  the  other,  must  be  due,  in  part 
at  least,  to  the  rules  of  the  game.  The  rules  of  the 
game  assign  management  to  owners  and  also  permit 
unlimited  ownership.  These  two  rules  were  the  rules 
of  the  old  handicraft  game.  In  the  old  game  the  old 
rules  worked  fairly  well — except  in  agriculture.  But 
the  new  machinofacture  game  is  a  different  game  en- 
tirely. The  new  feature  is  that  every  time  a  batter 
makes  a  fair  hit  and  a  safe  run  it  automatically  adds 
a  cubit  to  his  stature.  Hence  in  the  new  game  the  old 
rules  are  a  social  injustice;  they  result  in  the  industrial 
disfranchisement  of  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  players 
while  two  per  cent  do  all  the  batting.  Would  it  not 
be  a  good  idea  to  make  some  slight  changes  in  the  rules 


THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH  75 

of  the  game,  such  as  limiting  the  batters  to,  say,  three 
safe  runs? 

The  injustice  of  the  old  rules  can  be  observed  dis- 
interestedly from  the  outside  by  taking  note  of  how 
they  worked  out  in  agriculture,  even  in  the  old  game; 
that  is,  in  Europe  during  the  medieval  and  early  modern 
centuries.  In  European  agriculture  they  always  sepa- 
rated ownership  and  labor.  When  the  land  barons  once 
got  hold  of  the  land  there  was  scarcely  any  more  oppor- 
tunity for  the  peasants  to  acquire  the  ownership  of  it 
than  there  was  for  them  to  acquire  the  ownership  of 
the  moon.  Hence  there  developed,  almost  all  over 
Europe,  a  landed  aristocracy  and  an  oppressed  agrarian 
peasantry.  We  escaped  that  in  America  chiefly  because 
of  the  unlimited  supply  of  new  land,  but  also  because 
of  our  policy  of  giving  out  our  wild  land  to  actual 
settlers.  But  now  that  our  new  land  is  all  taken  up 
there  is  danger  that  we  may  drift  toward  an  agrarian 
aristocracy  of  absentee  landlords,  even  here  in  America, 
as  is  suggested  by  the  rise  in  the  percentage  of  tenancy 
in  the  last  forty  years.  The  point  is,  that  in  modern 
capitalistic  industry  the  old  rules  work  quite  as  badly 
as  they  always  have  worked  in  European  agriculture. 

But  to  the  modern  captains  of  industry  the  defects 
of  the  rules  are  quite  as  invisible  as  they  were  to  the 
medieval  land  barons.  They  are  satisfied  to  do  the 
batting,  and  they  feel  confident  that  they  can  do  it 
rather  better  than  anybody  else  could.  Such  facts  as 
those  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  charts  and  tables  they 
do  not  regard  as  symptoms  of  social  disease  but  as 
dispensations  of  Providence.  A  prominent  New  York 
banker,  writing  in  the  American  Magazine  for  March 
1920,  expresses  pained  surprise,  and  mild  concern,  that 


j6  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

people  should  be  disquieted  over  such  facts  as  those 
revealed  in  King's  book,  inasmuch  as  the  shares  of 
wealth  and  income  are  assigned  by  inviolable  economic 
law,  and  inasmuch  as  it  would  add  barely  a  hundred 
dollars  or  so  to  a  poor  man's  income  even  if  the  shares 
were  all  equal.  It  seems  improbable,  however,  that  his 
view  of  the  case  should  find  very  general  acceptance 
among  laborers  :  it  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
whose  ox  is  gored !  Especially  as  these  theorists  are  a 
bit  inconsistent.  Sometimes  they  argue  that  inviolable 
economic  law  is  responsible  for  differences  of  wealth 
and  poverty ;  sometimes  they  locate  the  cause  in  human 
nature  and  individual  differences.  Wide  apart  as  the 
poles  though  these  two  explanations  are,  they  are  alike 
in  this :  that  they  recognize  no  feasibility  in  undertak- 
ing to  make  any  material  alterations  in  the  general 
situation.  That  seems  to  be  the  point  of  chief  concern 
with  this  type  of  mind.  The  moral  they  point,  in  either 
theory,  is  for  the  masses  to  labor  diligently  and  bear 
the  dispensations  of  Providence  with  patient,  cheerful 
resignation.  This  is  the  New  York  banker's  cure  for 
the  social  unrest. 

There  is  a  kernel  of  truth  in  these  theories,  to  be 
sure ;  but  they  overlook,  indeed  they  deliberately  persist 
in  ignoring,  the  fact  that  the  rules  of  the  game  affect 
the  distribution  of  wealth.  The  extreme  maldistribu- 
tion of  wealth  is  a  social  injustice,  as  our  posterity  will 
be  able  to  see  very  clearly.  It  is  due  to  causes  over 
which  an  enlightened  society  has  control,  but  to  which 
we  are  blind  for  reasons  stated  in  Chapter  II. 

This  fact  is  illustrated  in  an  interesting  quotation 
from  Professor  Ely,1  written  in  1899:  "A  still  better 

1Ely,  "Monopolies  and  Trusts,"  p.  254. 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF   WEALTH  J7 

illustration  is  afforded  by  the  concentration  of  wealth 
in  England,  which  is  traceable  very  largely  to  causes 
that  were  in  operation  during  the  reign  of  George  III. 
During  the  past  fifty  years  England  has  been  trying 
to  remedy  the  evils  which  have  resulted  from  mistakes 
made  during  the  preceding  fifty  years,  but  she  has  as 
yet  by  no  means  succeeded.  Similarly,  a  very  brief 
period,  beginning  with  the  Civil  War — a  period  prob- 
ably not  exceeding  twenty-five  years — is  very  largely 
responsible  for  the  excessive  centralization  of  wealth 
in  this  country,  and  for  many  evils  which  it  will  take 
more  than  one  generation  to  overcome."  .  .  .  "The 
author  has  in  mind,  among  other  things,  the  character 
of  taxation,  the  financial  methods  of  railway  construc- 
tion and  management,  and  the  issues  of  depreciated 
paper  currency."  These  are  the  sieves  in  the  industrial 
threshing  machine.  They  determine  where  the  wheat 
shall  go,  where  the  screenings,  and  where  the  chaff. 
Of  course,  those  who  get  the  wheat  can  find  reasons  in 
the  dispensations  of  Providence  why  the  others  should 
be  patient. 

Such  concentration  of  wealth  is  (let  us  confess  it!) 
a  horrid  thing,  however  complacently  the  rich  them- 
selves may  regard  it.  It  means  power  in  the  hands  of 
a  few,  and  the  constant  danger  of  plutocracy.  And  in 
plutocracy  there  is  hope  neither  of  social  justice  nor 
international  peace.  At  the  other  extreme  it  means 
misery,  anxiety,  privation,  suffering,  sickness,  and 
death.  It  breeds  social  degeneration.  Hunter,  after 
having  done  charity  work  for  years  among  paupers  and 
vagrants,  and  then,  for  another  term  of  years,  relief 
work  among  the  honest,  hard-working,  struggling  poor, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  society  has  its  large  army 


78  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

of  vagrants  and  paupers  just  because  the  struggle  for 
an  honest  living  is  so  desperately  hard  and  so  pathet- 
ically hopeless.  Maldistribution  of  wealth  also  breeds 
class  hatred  and  social  unrest.  For,  as  has  already 
been  shown,  the  chief  causes  of  the  extreme  mal- 
distribution of  wealth  and  welfare  are  social  injustices. 
The  rules  of  the  game  are  wrong;  and  the  masses  know 
it. 

And  social  injustices  are  more  intolerable  than  they 
ever  were  before,  because  they  are  inimical  to  the  ideals 
of  both  Christianity  and  democracy.  The  masses  have 
not  drunk  the  creed  of  liberty  from  their  mother's  milk 
nor  partaken  of  the  bread  and  wine  of  Christian  ideals 
to  no  effect.  They  demand  a  Christian  democracy  in 
which  these  ideals  shall  be  realized.  They  insist  upon 
a  world  in  which  every  individual  shall  be  treated  as 
an  end  in  himself,  and  no  longer  degraded  to  the  cruel 
level  of  mere  means ;  a  world  in  which  every  child  shall 
be  protected  by  cooperating  institutions  from  the  avoid- 
able influences  that  now  crush  needlessly  so  many  lives ; 
a  world  in  which  every  person  shall  be  guaranteed  a 
satisfying  share  in  the  rich  heritage  which  civilization 
affords.  The  present  social  unrest  is  the  articulate 
desire  of  the  masses  for  social  justice,  and  God  will 
eventually  grant  the  desire  of  their  hearts.  For  the 
extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  are  preventable.  Each 
individual  should  have  enough  so  as  to  assure  him 
satisfaction  of  the  fundamental  needs  of  human  life. 
No  one  should  possess  so  much  as  to  interfere  with  his 
own  or  his  children's  full  efficiency ;  nor  with  the  like 
efficiency  and  happiness  of  others.  It  is  an  old  prin- 
ciple of  economics  that  luxury  should  be  enjoyed  by 
none  till  necessities  have  been  provided  for  all. 


THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    WEALTH  79 

An  equitable  circulation  of  wealth  is  what  is  wanted; 
not  an  equal  distribution.  That  is  a  very  significant 
distinction!  Equality,  even  if  it  were  possible,  would 
be  no  more  just  than  the  present  extremes.  The  word 
circulation  (instead  of  distribution)  suggests  a  process 
instead  of  a  status;  and  implies  that  each  individual 
must  be  constantly  alert  and  efficient  in  order  to  secure 
his  share.  Nor  does  a  better  circulation  of  wealth' 
imply  that  the  rich  are  to  be  slugged  and  robbed.  It 
does  mean  that  the  opportunities  to  amass  immense 
fortunes  by  hocus-pocus  jugglery  should  be  closed  in 
the  future.  It  further  means  that  large  estates  should 
be  subjected  to  a  "kind  but  firm"  pressure,  of  which 
the  owners  would  be  quite  as  unconscious  as  a  smoker 
is  unconscious  of  the  indirect  tax  on  tobacco.  No 
scientific  economist  has  ever  advocated  schemes  any 
more  painful  than  those  suggested  by  Mr.  Carnegie  for 
the  redistribution  of  large  fortunes. 

Another  thing :  many  poor  people  over-estimate  what 
they  would  get  out  of  the  redistribution  of  wealth.  We 
should  not  all  be  rich  and  ride  in  limousines !  Wishes 
would  not  become  horses.  Only  a  small  margin  would 
be  added  to  the  income  of  those  now  below  the  average. 
Economy  would  be  just  as  necessary  as  ever.  There 
is  no  magic  by  which  everybody  can  be  made  rich. 
But  there  is  a  magic  word  by  which  everybody  can  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  earn  a  decent  living,  and  live 
a  happy,  useful  life.  That  magic  word  is  justice! 
Nor  is  there  any  magic  word  by  which  capital  can  be 
accumulated.  During  the  past  fifty  years  capital  has 
been  accumulated,  and  in  vast  quantities,  as  was  shown 
in  Chapter  V.  And  that  is  a  matter  of  major  conse- 
quence.    It  may  even  be  that  this  achievement  is  worth 


80  CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

all  the  social  costs  involved.  Perhaps  in  the  long  run 
more  people  may  be  benefited  by  the  capital  that  has 
been  accumulated  than  would  have  been  benefited  by 
a  fairer  distribution  of  wealth.  Certain  it  is  that  if, 
in  an  attempt  to  redistribute  wealth,  we  should  dissi- 
pate capital,  we  would  do  more  harm  than  good.  That 
is  what  Bolshevism  has  done  so  far,  and  what  Socialism 
would  be  very  liable  to  do  wherever  tried.  A  faulty 
distribution  of  wealth,  bad  as  it  may  be,  is  better  than 
failure  to  produce  wealth.  Unless  the  masses  can  be 
taught  to  save  and  reinvest,  individually  and  collec- 
tively, we  had  better  keep  the  old  rules.  But  surely 
the  masses  can  be  taught  to  conserve  wealth,  just  as 
they  have  been  taught  to  conserve  government.  The 
secret  is  education  and  moral  regeneration.  It  is  a 
spiritual  problem.  Indeed,  the  whole  social  readjust- 
ment is  primarily  a  spiritual  problem,  as  will  be  shown 
in  the  last  half  of  this  book. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SPECIAL  GRIEVANCES   OF  THE   MIDDLE   CLASS 

IN  the  previous  chapters  we  have  been  discussing 
the  maladjustments  and  social  injustices  of  our 
industrial  organization  as  it  now  stands.  Up  to 
this  point  we  have  gone  on  the  assumption  that  it  is 
the  laboring  class,  if  anybody,  that  has  a  grievance. 
We  have  tried,  in  other  words,  to  examine  the  causes 
of  social  unrest  to  ascertain  whether  the  laboring  classes 
have  any  just  ground  for  complaint.  We  have  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  they  have. 

We  come  now  to  a  new  phase  of  the  subject. 
Hitherto  the  question  has  been  whether  there  is  any- 
body in  the  case  whom  we  ought  to  sympathize  with. 
Now  we  raise  the  suggestion  that  it  might  be  quite 
proper  for  us  of  the  middle  class  to  sympathize  a  little 
with  ourselves.  Or,  to  state  the  case  declaratively : 
We  of  the  middle  class  are  ourselves  the  chief  victims 
of  things-as-they-are. 

For  a  long  time  the  radicals  have  been  ridiculing  us 
for  our  blindness  to  the  social  forces  that  are  handling 
us,  and  to  the  trend  of  events.  They  call  us  "smug" ; 
which  implies  that  the  pinch  we  feel  is  not  the  pinch  of 
poverty  but  the  pinch  of  luxury,  and  that,  well  fed  and 
sure  of  our  jobs,  we  are  selfishly  indifferent  to  the  cry 
of  the  oppressed.  They  laugh  at  us  on  the  bases  for 
defending   the  rules   so   religiously   in   our  confident 

81 


82  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

expectation  that  we  are  presently  going  to  beat  the 
Colossus  at  its  own  game  and  get  a  chance  ourselves 
to  bat.  They  cartoon  us  as  a  fat  sloth  hanging  asleep 
by  one  arm  from  a  limb  that  is  gradually  breaking  off. 

Unfortunately  the  facts  bear  out  their  jibes!  For 
the  facts  are  as  follows: 

It  is  unquestionably  the  middle  class  that  were  the 
chief  victims  of  the  war-time  high  cost  of  living.  Labor 
was  no  worse  off  than  it  had  been  before;  probably  it 
was  somewhat  better  off,  especially  during  the  early  part 
of  1920;  though  there  were  great  bodies  of  unskilled 
laborers,  like  those  in  steel  manufacturing,1  whose 
earnings  remained  decidedly  below  the  lowest  possible 
standard  of  living.  As  for  the  organized  skilled  trades, 
they  were  relatively  prosperous.  Most  business  man- 
agers were  favored  by  the  trend  of  prices,  some  were 
made  into  profiteers,  and  some  of  the  big  corporations 
realized  fabulous  profits.  But  the  middle  class  suf- 
fered. Salaries  responded  to  the  price  curve  more 
slowly  than  wages,  and  much  more  slowly  than  profits. 
Ministers  perhaps  suffered  as  badly  as  anybody.  Thou- 
sands of  capable  middle-aged  men  left  the  teaching 
profession,  discouraged  and  in  many  cases  embittered. 
A  real  crisis  was  thereby  created  in  education — unless 
something  effective  is  done  to  remedy  it  our  schools 
will  suffer  for  a  generation  to  come.  Civil  service 
employees  had  cause  to  worry,  too ;  in  fact,  all  salaried 
employees.  Retired  farmers,  and  small  business  men, 
widows,  orphans,  and  all  others  dependent  on  the  in- 
terest from  small  investments  were  pinched  perhaps  the 
worst  of  all.     And  along  with  all  these  classes  were  the 

1  See  "The  Interchurch  World  Mo^^ent  Report  on  the  Steel 
Strike  of  1919,"  pp.  85  ff. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE    CLASS         83 

small  professional  men  who  serve  them.  The  ten- 
dencies of  the  last  seven  years  are  similar  tendencies, 
however,  to  those  that  have  been  operating  for  the 
last  sixty  years,  except  that  they  have  been  accelerated 
recently.  They  are  exactly  the  same  tendencies  that 
will  continue  throughout  the  lives  of  our  children  and 
grandchildren  unless  we  do  something  effective  to  check 
them. 

The  middle  class  is  being  gradually  eliminated  by 
the  growing  concentration  of  wealth.  Our  proportion 
of  the  nation's  wealth  is  a  declining  percentage.  That 
has  been  clearly  shown  by  King.1  In  a  quotation  from 
him  in  a  previous  chapter  (VII)  we  had  this:  "That 
the  poor  have,  relatively,  lost  but  little  (between  1896 
and  1910),  but  that  the  middle  class  has  been  the 
principal  sufferer."  In  his  tables  King  lists  65  per 
cent  as  poor,  33  per  cent  as  middle  class,  and  2  per 
cent  as  rich.  (See  chart,  p.  68.)  The  poor  are 
already  considerably  in  the  majority — nearly  two 
thirds.  Only  one  third  are  listed  as  middle  class. 
King  divides  these  into  the  upper  and  lower  middle 
class.  Both  are  losing  ground  so  far  as  their  share 
of  the  nation's  wealth  is  concerned.  His  other  tables 
show  that  the  disadvantage  of  the  lower  middle  class 
has  been  slightly  greater  than  that  of  the  upper  middle 
class. 

The  growth  of  farm  tenancy  is  another  straw  in 
the  wind,  and  it  shows  the  wind  to  be  blowing  in  the 
same  general  direction.  The  percentage  of  tenancy, 
by  farms,  has  increased  from  23  per  cent  in  1880  to 
38  per  cent  in  1920.  The  fact  that  it  was  35  per  cent 
in  1900  seems  to  indicate  that  the  increase  has  prac- 
1  Page  81. 


84  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

tically  stopped.  But  this  is  deceptive,  and  optimism 
based  upon  it,  unwarranted.  Statistics  will  be  "re- 
leased" in  a  few  months  showing  that  the  percentage 
of  farm  values  operated  by  tenants  in  certain  typical 
sections  of  the  corn  belt  is  now  as  high  as  60  per  cent. 
This  indicates  that  farm  property  is  persistently  drift- 
ing into  the  hands  of  absentee  owners,  and  that  farm 
operators  are  persistently  falling  into  the  relatively 
propertyless  class.  It  means  that,  in  the  farming  busi- 
ness, to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  from  him  that 
hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath. 
It  indicates  a  gradual  polarization  of  society  so  far  as 
the  agricultural  industry  is  concerned.  It  suggests 
that  in  rural  as  well  as  industrial  America  the  middle 
class  is  disappearing. 

Not  only  are  our  property  holdings  falling  off  rela- 
tively, but  our  birth  rate  is  declining  also.  We  raise 
smaller  families  than  our  great-grandfathers  did,  and 
than  do  our  back-door  neighbors,  the  laboring  class. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  the  native  white  stock, 
which  may  be  thought  of  as  the  backbone  of  the  middle 
class.  It  is  true  not  only  of  the  old  American  stock 
but  also  of  the  descendants  of  the  old  wave  of  immi- 
gration from  northwestern  Europe.  Says  Professor 
Ellwood  * :  "Apparently,  therefore,  we  must  conclude 
that  the  birth  rate  of  the  native  whites  in  the  United 
States  is  declining  to  such  an  extent  that  that  element 
in  our  population  threatens  to  become  extinct  if  present 
tendencies  continue."  While  the  native  white  stock  is 
not  exactly  identical  with  the  middle  class,  the  terms 
are  so  nearly  synonymous  that  the  quotation  is  relevant, 
since  the  most  important  cause  for  the  declining  birth 

1  "Sociology  and   Modern   Social   Problems,"  p.   191. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS        85 

rate  is  the  pressure  of  our  industrial  system.  "Eco- 
nomic conditions,"  Ellwood  continues,  "are  without 
doubt  mainly  at  the  bottom  of  the  decreasing  birth  rate 
in  the  native  white  American  population."  This  is 
particularly  significant,  coming  as  it  does  from  Pro- 
fessor Ellwood ;  for,  among  recognized  American  soci- 
ologists, he  is  perhaps  the  most  open  and  avowed 
antagonist  of  socialistic  theories.  Among  the  reasons 
for  our  declining  birth  rate  is  the  pressure  of  immi- 
grants upon  us.  They  come  with  a  lower  standard  of 
living  than  we  are  accustomed  to;  we  are,  therefore, 
unable  to  compete  with  them  in  the  wage  market ;  ac- 
cordingly we  find  relief  by  limiting  the  size  of  our 
families.  Again,  the  entrance  of  our  women  into 
industry  has  postponed  marriage,  especially  of  middle- 
class  women,  and  so  reduced  the  number  of  their  off- 
spring. And  finally  divorce  and  the  instability  of  our 
family  life  have  had  their  effect.  For  all  these  reasons 
the  children  of  native  white  stock  are  being  crowded 
aside  at  the  portals  of  life,  by  children  of  immigrants. 
We  of  the  "bourgeoisie"  are  committing  race  suicide, 
while  the  "proletariat"  are  taking  our  place. 

Such  are  the  facts ;  let  us  now  turn  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  them. 

Marx,  the  father  of  modern  socialism,  predicted  the 
extinction  of  the  middle  class.  According  to  his  eco- 
nomic philosophy  the  polarization  of  society  was  pre- 
destined to  continue  until  the  few  at  one  pole  became 
extremely  rich,  and  the  "bourgeoisie"  were  absorbed 
into  the  "proletariat."  As  soon  as  this  process  had 
been  carried  far  enough  the  class  war  between  capitalist 
and  "proletariat"  would  occur,  whereupon  the  capi- 
talistic system  of  industrial  society  would  be  over- 


86  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

thrown,  and  the  dictatorship  of  the  "proletariat"  set 
up.  This  is  the  philosophy  underlying  the  Bolshevik 
revolution  in  Russia,  and  you  can  hear  this  doctrine 
expounded  in  any  I.  W.  W.  jungle  camp  or  meeting 
place.  It  is  the  avowed  policy  and  program  of  radical 
socialism  to  accelerate  class  consciousness.  The  rad- 
icals not  only  see  but  passionately  approve  a  tendency 
for  the  members  of  the  middle  class  to  drop  down  one 
by  one  through  the  social  sieve  into  the  "proletariat." 
This  explains  why  dyed-in-the-wool  socialists  will  not 
unite  with  middle  class  progressives  in  trying  to  secure 
remedial  legislation.  They  believe  that  reforms  de- 
signed to  tinker  up  the  capitalistic  system  will  only  keep 
it  on  its  wheels  just  that  much  longer,  and  so  postpone 
the  socialist  revolution  which  they  regard  as  the  only 
cure  for  the  ills  of  modern  society,  and  inevitable  even- 
tually, anyhow.  Accordingly  they  desire  to  hasten  the 
time  when  the  "proletariat"  will,  as  a  result  of  this 
process,  find  itself  in  the  overwhelming  majority; 
whereupon  the  revolution,  which  they  so  impatiently 
await,  will  occur.     This  is  the  socialist  theory. 

The  worst  thing  about  this  Marxian  prediction  is 
that  so  far  it  appears  to  be  coming  true.  Not  only  are 
we  of  the  middle  class  losing  our  share  of  the  nation's 
wealth,  but  our  stock  itself  is  losing  out.  The  middle 
class  actually  is  declining  at  a  rate  that  encourages  the 
Marxian  socialists  to  hope  for  its  eventual  extinction. 
The  process,  like  the  motion  of  the  hour  hand,  is  not 
visible,  or  at  least  it  has  not  been  till  just  recently; 
but  its  movement  around  the  dial  is  no  less  sure  for 
all  that ;  and  the  tendency  has  been  well  recognized  for 
a  long  time  by  perfectly  orthodox  sociologists. 

Two  forces  are  rubbing  us  through  the  colander  into 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE    CLASS         87 

the  "proletariat."  One  is  our  false  ideals  and  artificial 
standards  of  living.  This  factor  will  be  discussed  in 
the  second  half  of  the  book  on  the  spiritual  aspects  of 
the  social  unrest.  A  second,  and  for  our  present  pur- 
poses the  more  significant,  cause  is  the  sins  of  the 
Colossus.  The  Colossus  is  the  aggressor;  and  we  of 
the  middle  class  are  his  chief  victims.  Let  us  enumer- 
ate some  of  our  middle  class  grievances  against  the 
Colossus. 

"Our  Financial  Oligarchy."  This  is  a  chapter  title 
from  a  little  book  that  every  middle-class  American 
ought  to  read:  "Other  People's  Money  and  How  the 
Bankers  Use  It,"  by  Justice  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court.  The  book  is  based  on 
the  findings  of  the  Pujo  Committee  appointed  by 
Congress  in  1912  to  investigate  the  so-called  "money 
trust."  The  Brandeis  book  was  published  in  1914;  a 
quotation  or  two  from  it  will  convey  some  slight  sug- 
gestion of  the  power  a  small  group  of  financiers 
exercised  over  American  business.  There  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  the  conditions  he  cites  have  changed  for 
the  better. 

"Among  the  allies,  two  New  York  banks — the 
National  City  and  the  First  National — stand  preemi- 
nent. They  constitute,  with  the  Morgan  firm,  the 
inner  group  of  the  Money  Trust.  ...  In  the  National 
City  is  James  Stillman ;  in  the  First  National,  George 
F.  Baker.  .  .  . 

"It  may  help  to  an  appreciation  of  the  allies'  power 
to  name  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  corporations  in 
which,  for  instance,  Mr.  Baker's  influence  is  exerted 
.  .  .  visibly  and  directly  ...  as  voting  trustee,  execu- 
tive committee  man,  or  simple  director : 


88  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

"i.  Banks,  Trusts,  and  Life  Insurance  Companies: 
First  National  Bank  of  New  York;  National  Bank  of 
Commerce ;  Farmer's  Loan  and  Trust  Company ;  Mu- 
tual Life  Insurance  Company. 

"2.  Railroad  Companies  :  New  York  Central  Lines ; 
New  Haven;  Reading;  Erie;  Lackawanna;  Lehigh 
Valley;  Southern;  Northern  Pacific;  Chicago,  Bur- 
lington and  Quincy. 

"3.  Public  Service  Corporations:  American  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company ;  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany. 

"4.  Industrial  Corporations:  United  States  Steel 
Corporation ;  Pullman  Company. 

"Mr.  Stillman  is  director  in  only  seven  corporations, 
with  aggregate  assets  of  $2,476,000,000;  but  the  direc- 
tors in  the  National  City  Bank,  which  he  dominates, 
are  directors  in  at  least  41  other  corporations  which, 
with  their  subsidiaries,  have  an  aggregate  capitalization 
or  resources  of  $10,864,000,000. 

"The  members  of  the  firm  of  J.  P.  Morgan  and 
Company,  the  acknowledged  leaders  of  the  allied  forces, 
hold  72  directorates  in  47  of  the  largest  corporations  of 
the  country." 

These  paragraphs  are  typical,  but  they  are  too  short 
to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  vast  extent  of  the 
"oligarchy's"  influence. 

Brandeis  specifies  three  "resultant  evils,"  as  follows: 
first,  "a  heavy  toll  upon  the  whole  community" ;  second, 
"suppressing  competition,"  and,  third,  "the  suppres- 
sion of  individual  liberty." 

Unfortunately  space  here  is  so  limited  that  the  far- 
reaching  effects  of  these  "resultant  evils"  must  be  left 
to  the  reader's  imagination.     But  suffice  to  say  that 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS        89 

under  the  circumstances  there  seems  to  be  very  little 
point  to  the  debate  as  to  whether  the  price  of  coal  is 
due  to  freight  rates  or  to  the  price  at  the  mines,  or 
whether  the  wheat  growers'  grievance  is  interest  rates, 
freight  rates  or  commissions.  In  either  case,  it  is 
apparently  the  "oligarchy"  to  which  we  of  the  middle 
class  are  paying  tribute. 

"The  Cheat  of  Overcapitalization/*  This  is  the 
title  of  an  article  that  appeared  in  Everybody's  Maga- 
zine for  June,  1907.  The  period  of  ten  years  previous 
to  that  date  had  seen  most  of  the  railroad  and  indus- 
trial corporations  "reorganized."  The  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  for  instance,  had  been  capitalized  at 
about  a  billion  and  a  quarter,  approximately  half  of 
which  was  common  stock,  which  "represented  the  pros- 
pective earnings"  of  the  concern.1  The  constituent 
companies  had  previously  been  reorganized  and  wat- 
ered. The  following,  from  Stuart  Daggett,  in  "Rail- 
road Reorganization"  (pp.  321ft),  is  a  typical  illustra- 
tion of  what  was  going  on  throughout  the  entire  field 
of  finance: 

"The  following  plan  was  put  through.  Instead  of  one 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Company,  the  Moores 
now  proposed  to  have  three  companies,  of  which  one  was 
to  operate  the  railroad,  one  was  to  hold  the  stock  of  the 
operating  company,  and  one  was  to  hold  the  stock  of  the 
company  which  held  the  stock  of  the  operating  company. 
This  is  to  say,  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  was  left  undisturbed,  while  in  Iowa 
a  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
was  formed  to  hold  the  stock  of  the  Railway  Company, 
and  in  New  Jersey  a  Rock  Island  Company  was  organ- 
ized to  hold  the  stock  of  the  Railroad  Company.  .  .  . 

1  See  Meade's  "Trust  Finance,"  pp.  191  ft". 


go  CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

The  old  Railway  Company  had  a  capital  stock  of 
$75,000,000;  the  new  Railroad  Company  issued  stock  to 
the  amount  of  $125,000,000  and  4  per  cent  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $75,000,000.  The  Rock  Island  Company  is- 
sued common  stock  to  a  total  of  $96,000,000  and  pre- 
ferred stock  to  a  total  of  $54,000,000;  and  the  aggregate, 
excluding  the  undisturbed  bonds  of  the  Railway  Com- 
pany, footed  up  to  $425,000,000  instead  of  to  $74,000,000 
as  before.  From  this  total  must  be  deducted  $200,000,000 
which  represented  issues  of  stock  by  one  company  to 
another,  and  $21,000,000  Rock  Island  Company  Stock 
and  •$  1,000,000  Railroad  Company  bonds  reserved  for 
future  extension,  leaving  a  net  increase  from  $75,000,000 
to  $202,500,000." 

Now  with  all  this  water  in  the  stock,  more  or 
less  of  which  may  or  may  not  have  been  "squeezed 
out"  in  the  last  twenty  years,  how  can  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  determine  what  the  valuation  is 
upon  which  rates  should  justly  be  computed?  The 
overcapitalization  that  took  place  twenty  years  ago 
in  the  railroad  industry  and  in  the  public  service  cor- 
porations of  our  cities  is  the  unknown  quantity  in  our 
present  problem  of  regulating  prices  in  these  fields. 
This  has  been  brought  out  very  clearly  by  Delos  F. 
Wilcox  in  his  recent  book  on  "The  Electric  Railway 
Problem."  The  rates  we  pay  to-day  are,  in  part  at 
least,  our  tribute  to  those  clever  jugglers  who  pocketed 
the  overcapitalization  they  had  created  during  that 
period  of  frenzied  finance.  The  "water"  is  now  "sewed 
in,"  and  the  problem  of  rate  regulation  is  well  nigh 
insoluble  as  a  result.  If  competition  determined  prices, 
overcapitalization  would  do  no  special  harm ;  other- 
wise, overcapitalization  screens  a  policy  of  charging 
what  the  traffic  will  bear.     Wherever  government  regu- 


SPECIAL    GRIEVANCES   OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS         91 

lation,  or  even  public  opinion,  has  any  influence  upon 
price  making — as  it  is  now  the  case  in  many  basic  in- 
dustries— overcapitalization  is  a  more  or  less  successful 
cheat.  And  the  middle  class  consumer  is  the  chief 
victim. 

Monopoly.  The  latest  source  of  popular  informa- 
tion on  the  subject  of  monopoly  is  Eliot  Jones's  "The 
Trust  Problem  in  the  United  States,"  published  in 
December,  192 1.  After  discussing  the  early  history 
of  the  trust  movement  in  America  he  devotes  a  chapter 
each  to  several  of  the  best  known  trusts :  oil,  sugar, 
tobacco,  shoe  machinery,  steel,  and  harvester.  The 
following  quotations  will  interest  the  reader.  "Both 
history  and  general  reasoning  establish  the  tendency 
of  the  trusts  to  increase  prices"  (p.  261).  "Sugar 
prices  were  low  when  competition  was  present,  and 
were  advanced  when  competition  was  absent  or  brought 
under  control"  (p.  263).  "Trusts  in  the  steel  indus- 
try seem  also  to  have  made  for  higher  orices  of  steel 
products"  (p.  263).  "That  these  prices  were  highly 
profitable  is  proven  by  the  enormous  profits  obtained 
by  the  Corporation,  enabling  it  within  fifteen  years 
more  or  less  to  squeeze  out  the  water  from  its  stock, 
which  at  the  beginning  had  little  behind  it  but  the 
hope  of  monopoly  gains"  (p.  265).  "In  the  years 
that  followed  (1898)  control  was  made  effective,  and 
prices  (of  plug  tobacco)  and  profits  increased"  (p. 
267).  "The  snuff  branch  is  most  highly  monopolized, 
while  the  cigar  branch  is  the  only  one  the  trust  has  been 
unable  to  dominate.  The  table  on  page  160  shows  that 
about  40  per  cent  of  the  price  of  snuff  from  1 900-1 910 
was  profit,  while  only  about  8  per  cent  of  the  price  of 
cigars  was  profit"  (p.  I59ff).    "Data  are  not  available 


92  CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

to  determine  what  influence  has  been  exerted  on  prices 
by  the  harvester  and  shoe  machinery  trusts"  (p.  267). 
"Professor  Jenks'  conclusion  (is)  that  the  trust  was 
able  to  control  the  price  of  spirits  rather  effectively  for 
comparatively  short  periods  after  each  reorganization" 
(p.  268).  "Generally  speaking,  the  capitalization  of 
the  trusts  was  twice  as  large  as  the  value  under  com- 
petitive conditions  of  the  properties  and  business  that 
they  acquired"  (p.  269).  "The  protective  tariff  thus 
promoted  the  trust  movement  by  offering  to  the  manu- 
facturers prospects  of  large  profits"  (p.  273).  "Whereas 
competition  provides  a  stimulus  to  the  introduction  of 
improved  methods,  the  tendency  of  monopoly  is  to- 
ward stagnation.  ...  As  Professor  Clark  puts  it, 
'monopoly  makes  no  proper  use  of  that  invaluable  agent 
of  progress,  the  junk  heap'  "  (p.  535). 

Monopoly  is  an  extremely  difficult  subject  on  which 
to  secure  concrete,  up-to-date  information.  Professor 
Jones's  study  brings  us  down  only  to  1910,  so  far  as 
concerns  facts  relative  to  actual  monopoly  power  and 
its  effects.  The  present  writer  sent  inquiries  to  some 
twenty  specialists  in  this  field.  The  replies  indicated 
that  the  facts  are  not  available.  They  are  trade  secrets 
to  which  neither  the  public  nor  expert  economists  have 
access.  Nevertheless  the  outstanding  impression  was 
that  there  is  a  considerable  list  of  staple  commodities 
that  are  more  or  less  subject  to  monopoly  control.  It 
is  clear  that  the  snout  of  the  vacuum  cleaner  is  in  the 
pockets  of  the  middle  class. 

Waste.  Slowly  our  eyes  are  being  opened  to  the 
waste  in  modern  industry  as  it  is  now  organized.  For 
the  last  ten  years  we  have  heard  a  good  deal  about  the 
wastes  of  our  timber  resources  and  the  need  of  refor- 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS         93 

estation.  The  public  has  heard  a  little  about  wastes  in 
coal  mining;  but  is  still  poorly  informed  about  the 
extent  of  those  wastes.1  Advertising  is  of  course  neces- 
sary to  the  competitive  system,  which  is  to  say  that  the 
competitive  element  in  modern  industry  is  responsible 
for  the  wastes  of  advertising. 

But  the  latest  sensation  is  a  new  book  just  off  the 
press :  "Waste  in  Industry,"  by  the  Committee  on 
Elimination  of  Waste  in  Industry  of  the  Federated 
American  Engineering  Societies,  of  which  Mr.  Her- 
bert Hoover  is  the  president.  This  is  a  piece  of 
thoroughly  scientific  statistical  research.  It  finds  that 
the  average  waste  2  in  men's  clothing  manufacturing  is 
64  per  cent,  in  the  building  industries  53  per  cent,  in 
printing  58  per  cent,  in  boot  and  shoe  manufacturing 
41  per  cent,  in  the  metal  trades  29  per  cent,  and  in 
textile  manufacturing  49  per  cent.  The  standard  of 
comparison  is  the  most  efficient  plant  in  each  industry. 

The  quantity  of  industrial  waste  is  not  summarized. 
Its  magnitude  may  be  inferred  from  scattered  state- 
ments. "Standardization  of  the  thickness  of  certain 
walls  might  mean  a  saving  of  some  $600  in  the  cost  of 
the  average  house."  3  "These  variations  (in  width  and 
length  of  printed  pages  and  columns)  cost  the  public 
not  less  than  a  hundred  million  dollars  each  year." 
"In  men's  ready  made  clothing  industry — it  should  be 
relatively  easy  to  save  three  quarters  of  a  million  dol- 
lars a  day."  3  "The  total  direct  cost  of  industrial  acci- 
dents in  the  United  States  in  19 19,  including  medi- 
cal  aid  and   insurance   overhead,   was   not   less   than 

1  See  the  scries  of  articles  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  1921. 
'  See  "Waste  in  Industry,"  p.  10. 
'The  same  book,  p.  11. 


94  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

$1,014,000,000.  .  .  .  Experience  indicates,  and  author- 
ities agree,  that  75  per  cent  of  these  losses  could  be 
avoided  .  .  ."  x 

The  report  states  that  "over  50  per  cent  of  the  re- 
sponsibility for  these  wastes  can  be  placed  at  the  door 
of  management  and  less  than  25  per  cent  at  the  door 
of  labor,  while  the  amount  chargeable  to  outside  con- 
tacts is  least  of  all."  2 

These  facts  suggest  that  we  might  not  be  taking 
such  an  appalling  risk  as  Mr.  Gary  fears  in  giving 
labor  a  voice  in  the  management  of  industry.  Things 
could  hardly  be  worse,  from  the  standpoint  of  effi- 
ciency! 3  Of  these  wastes  the  consuming  public  is  the 
victim,  and  that  includes  the  middle  class ! 

Taxes:  One  can  find  it  hinted  at  in  almost  any 
standard  treatise  on  taxation  that  it  is  always  the  gov- 
erning class  who  control  taxation.  Visible  property  is 
much  more  easily  taxed  than  invisible  property;  but 
those  of  us  who  manage  to  own  a  house  and  lot,  an 
automobile  and  a  piano,  or  even  a  small  farm  with  a 
mortgage  on  it,  are  not  very  successful  in  hiding  them. 
Indirect  taxes  have  always  been  popular  with  the  tax- 
making  power.  They  shift  the  burden  to  the  great 
mass  of  consumers;  they  relieve  the  rich  of  their  pro- 
portionate share  of  the  taxes.  Until  recently  the  fed- 
eral government  has  used  them  almost  exclusively. 
Every  middle  class  American  should  study  diligently, 
especially  at  this  time,  the  system  of  indirect  taxation 
by  which  the  Civil  War  debts  were  paid.4     Professor 

1  See  "Waste  in  Industry,"  pp.  22,  23. 

2  The  same  book,  p.  9. 

sVeblen's  "The  Engineers  and  the  Price  System,"  pp.  io8ff. 
4  Coman's  "Industrial  History  of  the  United  States,"  pp.  283ft. 
and  Daniel's  "Public  Finance,"  pp.  130-180. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS        Q5 

Ely  declares1  that  it  hastened  the  concentration  of 
wealth.  It  was  one  of  the  mysterious  drugs  with 
which  our  infant  industries  were  stimulated  to  such 
colossal  growth.  The  excess  profits  and  income  taxes 
of  1 91 7  are  almost  revolutionary  in  the  way  they  tend 
to  put  the  tax  burden  where  it  belongs  in  a  democracy. 
Professor  Friday  makes  it  clear 2  that  these  taxes 
came  out  of  the  profits  fund  that  the  war  was  creating. 
They  did  not  cause  the  high  prices  of  that  period ;  they 
reached  into  the  pockets  of  the  profiteer  and  turned 
part  of  his  gains  over  to  the  government.  Otherwise 
he  would  have  kept  them  all.  There  is  a  vigorous 
propaganda  going  on  now  to  have  these  taxes  repealed ; 
and  the  public  is  much  too  ready  to  believe  all  they  are 
told  about  the  alleged  disadvantages  of  these  taxes.  It 
is  only  sheep  that  before  their  shearers  are  dumb.  But 
a  "Tax  Payers'  League"  in  Alabama,  the  governor 
himself  aptly  dubbed  "The  Tax  Dodgers'  League"; 
and  the  Literary  Digest  for  May  14,  1921,  has  the 
suggestive  caption:  "Taxes  to  be  Shifted,  not  Lifted." 
If  they  are  shifted  it  will  be  mainly  to  us  of  the  middle 
class. 

War  debts:  War  debts  have  never  attracted  the 
thoughtful  attention  they  deserve.  History  teaches  that 
they  are  mainly  a  phenomenon  of  very  recent  centuries. 
In  anything  like  their  modern  proportions  they  have 
grown  up  along  with  the  growth  of  modern  capitalism. 
In  no  small  measure  war  debts  are  a  creature  of  the 
Colossus.  They  have  now  reached  a  pitch  where  they 
threaten  to  bankrupt  European  governments;  and  such 

1  See  above,  p.  76fF. 

"'Profits.   Wages  and   Prices,"   Chapter  XII. 


96  CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

a  collapse  might  disintegrate  the  whole  fabric  of  mod- 
ern industry.  The  policy  of  financing  a  war  on  bor- 
rowed funds  secretes  a  most  plausible  philosophy  that 
makes  it  appear  quite  impracticable  to  conscript  wealth, 
as  we  conscript  young  men.  But  the  philosophy  is 
misleading;  it  tends  to  fatten  the  Colossus.  Nothing 
would  go  farther  toward  making  future  wars  impos- 
sible than  a  complete  collapse  of  the  present  war  credits. 
If  war  debts  should  prove  uncollectible  the  Colossus 
would  want  no  more  wars.  "We"  is  never  so  ambigu- 
ous a  word  as  when  it  is  connected  with  war  debts.  It 
scarcely  occurs  to  us  that  we  owe  the  war  debts  to  our- 
selves, much  less  to  inquire  precisely  which  of  us  owe 
them,  and  which  of  us  we  owe  them  to.  The  fact  is,  a 
war  debt  is  a  device  by  which  the  money  lending  class 
spread  the  conscription  of  wealth  out  over  a  period 
sufficiently  long  so  that  it  can  be  conscripted  from  the 
tax  paying  class.  And  that  means  chiefly  us  of  the 
middle  class — unless  we  take  charge  of  the  tax  making 
by  which  war  debts  are  paid  off. 

The  spoiled  attitude  of  labor.  It  was  a  matter  of 
common  remark  during  the  period  of  high  wages  that 
labor  was  less  efficient  than  formerly.  Men  tried  to  see 
how  little  they  could  accomplish.  Fathers  formerly 
taught  their  sons  to  deliver  an  honest  day's  work  for  the 
wage  agreed  upon.  That  attitude  seems  to  be  relatively 
rare  to-day.  By  their  policy  of  soldiering  on  the  job 
labor  has  largely  forfeited  the  good  will  of  the  public. 

The  wage  earners'  loss  of  motive  for  diligent,  honest 
labor  was  one  of  the  outstanding  facts  of  the  recent 
situation.  It  is  a  disconcerting  psychology  that  calls 
for  explanation;  and  much  has  been  written  about  it. 
The  war  stimulated  the  worker's  motives  so  long  as  the 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS        97 

patriotic  impulse  functioned.  But  after  the  armistice, 
when  labor  became  convinced  that  not  the  Cause  but 
the  profiteers  were  benefiting  by  their  work,  they 
slowed  down;  till  by  the  fall  of  1920  their  high  wages 
and  reduced  efficiency  had  absorbed  all  profits — where- 
upon the  profit  makers  balked  in  turn. 

It  is  easy  to  assume  that  the  interests  of  employee 
and  employer  are  identical;  and  employers  like  to 
preach  that  doctrine.  But  laborers,  especially  in  the 
large  scale  industries,  are  increasingly  skeptical.  It 
would  clarify  the  atmosphere  if  economists  would 
ascertain  definitely  just  how  much  mutuality  of  interest 
there  is  or  is  not  in  specific  industries,  and  express  the 
same  in  a  coefficient  of  correlation.  That  would  fur- 
nish a  factual  basis  for  the  formulation  of  public 
opinon. 

The  reason  for  the  demoralization  of  labor  may  be 
inferred  from  chapters  on  the  modern  Colossus,  the 
iron  law  of  wages,  and  the  distribution  of  wealth. 
According  to  the  principles  set  forth  in  those  chapters 
all  that  unorganized  labor  can  hope  to  get  out  of  mod- 
ern industry  is  a  bare  subsistence,  while  the  whole 
surplus  goes  to  the  investor.  Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to 
expect  the  typical  middle  class  reader  to  understand 
that,  because  there  is  (as  normally)  a  labor  over-supply 
of  a  million  and  a  half,  constantly  increased  by  organ- 
ized and  solicited  immigration,  all  there  is  in  industry 
for  common  labor  is  a  bare  subsistence  wage.  But 
common  labor  understands  it.  Labor  knows,  however 
blind  we  of  the  middle  class  are  to  the  facts,  that  the 
dice  are  loaded  against  him.  He  is  tired  of  grinding 
out  profits  for  the  stock  holders.  Under  modern  large 
scale  industry  the  identity  of  interest  between  employer 


98  CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

and  employee,  that  there  used  to  be  under  the  old  small 
shop  regime,  is  normally  conspicuous  by  its  absence. 

It  is  the  Colossus  that  has  demoralized  our  workers 
for  us.  If  all  industries  had  remained  small  scale 
industries,  like  the  ones  most  of  us  are  in,  labor  would 
never  have  been  demoralized,  there  would  be  no  sol- 
diering on  the  job,  and  fathers  would  still  be  teaching 
their  sons  to  render  an  honest  day's  work  for  their 
wage.  But  since  it  is  the  big  industries  which  we  do 
not  run  that  have  provoked  the  soldiering  by  system- 
atically exploiting  labor,  we  fail  utterly  to  understand 
it.  Whenever  we  hire  a  washerwoman,  a  handy  man 
about  the  place,  a  harvest  hand,  or  laborers  in  our  small 
scale  businesses,  they  shirk  on  our  jobs  too,  just  as  if 
we  were  to  blame ;  and  when  we  buy  steel,  coal,  sugar, 
lumber,  or  what  not  we  pay  the  cost  of  their  time- 
killing  in  large  scale  industry  itself.  The  attitude  of 
labor  has  been  spoiled  by  modern  capitalism ;  and  we  of 
the  middle  class  are  the  victims. 

The  Balk.  We  need  a  new  word  in  the  English 
language.  Sabotage  we  have  imported  from  the 
French  to  name  the  balk  of  labor.  Originally  sabotage 
meant  the  destruction  of  machinery  by  the  workers; 
but  it  has  now  come  to  mean  that  soldiering  on  the  job 
by  which  the  workers  slow  down  production  to  promote 
their  own  advantage — real  or  imaginary.  It  was  this 
kind  of  sabotage  by  which  labor  so  reduced  its  effi- 
ciency between  the  armistice  and  midsummer  1920 
that  there  were  no  profits  left.  But  large  scale  capital 
does  exactly  the  same  thing  in  principle.1  The  coal 
operators,  for  example,  close  down  or  run  short  shift 
during  the  summer  lest  they  supply  the  market  too  lib- 

1  Veblen,  "The  Engineers  and  the  Price  System,"  pp.  127. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS        99 

erally  with  coal,  and  so  lower  the  price.  We  now  know 
that  their  doing  so  during  the  summer  of  1920  was 
what  the  strike  of  that  year  was  a  protest  against ;  and 
that  such  is  their  usual  policy.  The  woolen  manufac- 
turers did  likewise  during  the  spring  of  1920.  Monop- 
olies balk  as  a  systematic  policy.  The  tobacco  growers 
tried  to  balk  during  the  1921  season;  but  failed  through 
lack  of  organization.  To  furnish  the  consuming  public 
with  an  abundant  supply  of  food  materials  next  sum- 
mer (1922)  the  farmers  are  now  dreading  as  a  calam- 
ity; but  they  have  no  organization  for  balking  together. 
Housing  construction  has  balked  for  several  years  past. 
Industry  as  a  whole  balked  in  the  fall  of  1920,  when  no 
further  profits  were  forthcoming.  The  periodical  busi- 
ness depressions  that  have  occurred  with  considerable 
regularity  for  a  century  are  really  nothing  more  or 
less  than  the  balk  of  industry.  They  seem,  like  war 
debts,  to  be  a  phenomenon  characteristic  of  the  ma- 
chinofacture  regime.  For  this  balk  of  industry  we  have 
no  name  as  yet,  because  we  regard  it  as  part  of  the 
necessary  nature  of  things.  Doubtless  it  is  necessary 
to  the  nature  of  things-as-they-are ;  but  it  comes  high 
for  us  consumers  of  the  middle  class. 

The  Press.  Every  middle  class  American  should 
read  the  two  books  by  the  Interchurch  World  Move- 
ment on  the  Steel  Strike  of  1919.  These  books  will  be 
increasingly  read  for  ten  years.  Eventually  they  will 
modify  public  opinion  fundamentally  on  the  labor- 
capital  controversy.  If  the  Movement  never  accom- 
plished anything  but  the  putting  out  of  these  two  re- 
ports it  was  worth  all  it  cost.  Seldom  has  the  church 
ever  struck  a  sharper  blow  in  behalf  of  humanity. 

The  second  volume  of  this  report  devotes  some  sev- 


100        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

enty-five  pages  to  a  factual  presentation  of  the  attitude 
of  the  Pittsburgh  newspapers.1  The  following  quota- 
tions indicate  the  conclusions :  "It  is  inconceivable 
that  the  public  which  relied  on  the  Pittsburgh  news- 
papers could  .  .  .  have  understood  the  causes  of  the 
strike  or  the  significance  of  the  incidents.  .  .  .  The 
newspapers  never  questioned  the  impression  that  the 
only  'moral'  issue  favored  the  side  of  the  Steel  Corpora- 
tion. .  .  .  The  effect  of  the  'news'  treatment  of  the 
strike  was  to  create  the  overwhelming  impression  and 
prejudice  that  the  strike  came  about  through  the  pursuit 
of  unreasonable  demands,  inspired  by  revolutionary  mo- 
tive. The  real  issues  of  the  strike  were  never  printed. 
.  .  .  The  Pittsburgh  newspapers  were  simply  a  more 
emphatic  example  of  policies  which  convince  labor  that 
the  press  is  unfair  to  labor  during  a  strike.  The  record 
of  the  Pittsburgh  papers  was  not  such  that  critics  could 
point  to  most  other  papers  of  the  country  as  a  great 
contrast." 

It  may  well  be  conceded  that  Upton  Sinclair  has  a 
very  unfortunate  literary  style.  Not  only  does  he 
egregiously  overwork  the  perpendicular  pronoun,  but 
he  loses  his  temper  and  gets  red  in  the  face  whenever 
he  talks  in  public.  These  peculiarities  furnish  plausible 
grounds  for  swamping  him  with  ridicule.  However, 
his  scent  for  facts  is  uncanny.  In  "The  Brass  Check," 
he  charges  the  press  with  being  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
Colossus.  His  charges  are  specific,  definite,  and  de- 
tailed, and  he  throws  out  challenge  after  challenge  to 
the  journals  which  he  attacks  to  prosecute  him  for 
libel.  The  present  writer  does  not  know  of  the  chal- 
lenge ever  having  been  accepted.     Among  men  prac- 

1  "Public  Opinion  and  the  Steel  Strike  of  1919,"  pp.  147  ff. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS      IOI 

ticed  in  the  technic  of  research  the  book  gives  the  im- 
pression of  being  factual. 

Fifteen  years  ago  the  press  used  to  protest  vigorously 
against  the  abuses  of  the  growing  plutocracy.  It  would 
do  almost  any  of  us  good  to  spend  an  afternoon  in  the 
library  looking  over  the  files  of  old  magazines.1  But 
such  literature  is  rare  today  except  in  journals  that  are 
tabooed  as  "radical,"  "red"  or  "Bolshevistic,"  and 
which  it  is  hardly  good  form  for  members  of  polite 
society  to  subscribe  for.  But  this  change  in  the  tone  of 
the  press  is  not  because  Herod  has  desisted  from  his 
incest,  but  because  John  the  Baptist  has  been  cast  into 
prison.  Perhaps  the  most  venal  of  all  the  sins  of  the 
Colossus  is  this  prostitution  of  the  press,  because  that 
poisons  public  opinion  at  its  source,  and  so  threatens 
the  very  existence  of  democracy  itself.  And  we  of  the 
middle  class  are  easy  dupes  of  this  propaganda.  As  a 
result  we  are  staggering  blindly  into  the  abyss. 

It  is  an  old  trick  for  the  thief  himself  to  raise  the  cry 
of  "Stop  Thief,"  and  that  is  exactly  what  has  hap- 
pened in  the  present  stringency.  The  press  has  raised  a 
hue  and  cry  on  the  trail  of  labor,  and  we  of  the  middle 
class  have  all  joined  in  the  chase.  Nothing  is  more 
usual  than  to  hear  the  high  cost  of  living  blamed  to 
labor.  But  the  facts  qualify  the  indictment.  Pro- 
fessor Friday  has  shown  2  that  the  high  prices  went  to 

1  Here  are  some  of  the  titles :  Payne — "The  Cheat  of  Over- 
capitalization," in  Everybody's  for  June,  1907;  Edward  Russell — 
"Where  did  you  get  it,  gentlemen,"  Everybody's,  December,  1907 ; 
Lincoln  Steffens  in  McClurc's  Magazine,  Jan.,  March,  July  and 
November,  1903,  also  his  book,  "The  Shame  of  the  Cities";  Ben 
B.  Lindsey,  "The  Beast  and  the  Jungle,"  Everybody's,  Oct. -Dec, 
1909;  and  various  articles  by  Ray  Stannard  Baker,  in  the  files  of 
McClure's,  from  1900-1904. 

"'Profits,  Wages,  and  Prices,"  Chapter  VI. 


102        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

profits,  not  to  wages,  up  to  about  the  middle  of  191 9. 
Only  after  that  were  they  absorbed  by  labor.  Even 
then  the  innings  of  labor,  certainly  of  unskilled  labor, 
was  only  for  a  little  over  a  year.  The  Interchurch  * 
showed  that  in  191 9  unskilled  workers  in  the  manufac- 
turing plants  of  the  Steel  Corporation  were  getting 
$100  less  than  the  minimum  of  absolute  physical  neces- 
sities for  a  family  of  five ;  and  the  semi-skilled  less  than 
a  "minimum  of  comfort"  wage.  During  the  spring  of 
192 1  thousands  of  coal  miners  were  locked  out  and 
were  actually  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  and  that  in 
the  face  of  the  prices  we  paid  for  coal  during  the  two 
winters  of  1920-22.  In  August,  1921,  the  index  number 
for  unskilled  labor  in  the  coal  2  industry  was  reported 
as  136,  and  in  the  Steel  Corporation  150,  whereas  the 
index  number  for  the  cost  of  living  was  estimated  at 
165;  which  means  that  unskilled  wages  in  these  two 
basic  large-scale  industries  are  declining  faster  than  the 
cost  of  living.  It  is  commonly  reported  that  farm 
laborers  are  glad  of  a  chance  to  work  for  their  board. 
The  army  of  the  unemployed  is  at  least  twice  its  usual 
size.  No,  the  press  has  deceived  us,  it  is  not  labor  of 
which  we  are  the  victims ;  it  is  the  Colossus. 

This  is  a  sample  of  the  damage  that  is  done  by  mis- 
leading the  public.  The  jury  will  not  soon  cure  the 
social  unrest  so  long  as  the  culprit  sits  unsuspected 
behind  the  judge's  bench,  and  the  victim  is  in  the  pris- 
oner's box.  And  it  may  be  added  incidentally  that  we 
have  been  quite  as  egregiously  and  disastrously  misled 
with  regard  to  the  international  situation,  and  doubt- 

1  "The  Steel  Strike  of  1919,"  p.  94- 

3  Literary  Digests  Nov.  26,  1921. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE    CLASS       IO3 

less  by  the  same  sinister  influences  behind  the  scenes, 
in  both  cases. 

War  and  Armaments.  It  falls  outside  the  scope  of 
this  book  as  originally  planned  to  discuss  the  inter- 
national situation  and  its  bearing  upon  the  social  unrest, 
however  fractional  such  an  omission  necessarily  might 
leave  the  discussion,  seeing  there  never  can  be  social 
peace  till  there  is  assured  international  peace.  But  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  affirm  that  modern  capitalism  is 
one  of  the  chief  menaces  to  international  peace.  This 
is  not  a  tenet  of  socialism  merely ;  the  fact  is  recognized 
by  all  competent  orthodox  students  of  economic  affairs, 
and  to  some  extent  by  the  general  public.  It  was  the 
growing  commercialism  and  the  budding  capitalism  of 
ancient  Rome  that  provoked  the  Punic  Wars  and 
finally  "murdered"  Carthage  and  Corinth.  The  same 
motive  has  always  figured  in  causing  wars;  and  it  is 
active  still,  but  organized  on  a  vastly  larger  scale  than 
ever  before.  Ambitious  modern  capitalism  inherits  the 
sinister  function  of  the  ambitious  kings  of  earlier  cen- 
turies, of  setting  the  common  people  to  fighting  one 
another.  Nationalistic  chauvinism  cooperated  with 
ambitious  kings  and  ambitious  capitalists  in  laying  the 
train  for  the  late  war. 

Is  there  any  reason  to  imagine  that  these  selfish,  re- 
actionary and  sinister  influences  were  asleep  during  the 
Versailles  Conference?  Why  doubt  that  European 
capitalism  was  an  important  factor  in  spoiling  the 
Versailles  Treaty?  As  for  the  debate  here  in  America 
over  the  League,  to  the  present  writer  it  seems  very 
clear  that  there  were  at  least  five  reasons  why  the  great 
American  plutocracy  nad  no  use  for  a  League  of 
Nations : 


104        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

1.  International  labor  organizations  were  promised 
too  influential  a  seat ; 

2.  A  protective  tariff  policy  would  be  hard  to  main- 
tain in  the  face  of  such  an  international  federation — 
quite  as  hard  as  interstate  tariffs  in  the  face  of  our 
national  federation; 

3.  The  armament  business *  would  be  seriously 
jeopardized ; 

4.  The  Rio  Grande  would  have  to  be  respected  as 
an  international  frontier;  and 

5.  A  Republican  was  to  be  preferred  to  a  Demo- 
cratic administration  so  far  as  the  much  desired  change 
in  the  government's  labor  policy  was  concerned. 

With  the  Colossus  and  its  press  opposing  the  League 
Mr.  Wilson's  "mistakes"  were  of  course  fatal.  As  a 
result,  the  jubilant,  hopeful  idealism  that  followed  the 
armistice  gave  place  to  the  dull  heartache  of  disappoint- 
ment among  the  peoples  of  the  world.  The  foot  of  the 
Colossus  is  again  upon  our  breasts,  or  more  accu- 
rately, over  our  eyes.  But  have  not  we  of  the  middle 
classes,  in  all  civilized  nations  suffered  enough  at  the 
hands  of  the  war  makers?  Are  we  not  even  yet  dis- 
illusioned as  to  who  they  are  ? 

Charity.  The  causes  of  poverty  are  various  and 
complicated.  Among  the  rest  there  are  mental  defi- 
ciencies and  defects  of  personality.  Also,  low  wages 
and  exploitation  of  labor  by  the  Colossus  are  among 
the  rest.  If  exploitation  of  labor  were  abolished,  there 
would  still  have  to  be  charity,  to  be  sure,  but  not  so 
much.    Certain  radical  laborites  oppose  all  charity  and 

1  See  the  reference  in  the  Literary  Digest  for  Oct.  1,  1921,  to 
the  report  of  the  Viviani  Commission  of  the  League  of  Nations 
on  the  Reduction  of  Armaments.  It  definitely  charges  armament 
firms  with  fomenting  war. 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS      105 

make  as  much  noise  in  public  as  they  can  to  obstruct 
the  collections  of  the  associated  charities.  They  are 
partly  wrong  in  theory,  and  mostly  wrong  in  policy. 

But  they  are  not  alone.  The  following  sentences  are 
quoted  from  the  Atlantic  Monthly  (Sept.,  192 1)  :  "The 
status  of  the  philanthropies  during  the  war  was  a  reve- 
lation like  that  made  by  a  dazzling  streak  of  lightning. 
During  those  momentous  years  there  were  high  wages, 
prohibition,  and  plenty  of  work  for  every  one.  The 
demands  on  the  charitable  societies  dropped  fifty  per 
cent  and  more.  The  poor  and  the  sick  seemed  to  be  no 
more  with  us.  The  question  forced  itself  upon  us  :  Ts 
it  possible  that  the  philanthropies  have  been  on  the 
wrong  tack,  that  fair  wages  and  decent  living  condi- 
tions are  the  bases  of  a  sound  civilization,  and  that  the 
philanthropists  are  but  poulticing  a  surface  sore?'  " 

Nor  is  the  theory  new  in  orthodox  social  science. 
Practically  the  same  principle  is  set  forth  in  Warner's 
"American  Charities";1  and  Warner  is  one  of  the 
standard  authorities  in  this  field.  In  the  same  book 
(p.  13)  he  points  out  that  the  English  poor  laws 
prior  to  1834  "must  have  had  an  extraordinary  effect 
in  diminishing  the  rate  of  wages."  2  It  is  an  interest- 
ing and  significant  historical  fact  that  the  repeal  of 
the  poor  laws  was  but  part  of  a  reform  movement 
that  wrote  a  bill  of  industrial  rights  for  labor  into 
English  law. 

This  aspect  of  charity  is  worthy  of  serious  con- 
sideration. The  inference  is  not  that  we  of  the  middle 
class  should  withhold  our  contributions  to  charity.    As 

1  See  pp.  191,  192  of  the  1908  edition. 

9  As  per  Ricardo's  law.  Whatever  charity  contributes  to  a  bare 
subsistence  income  may  be  subtracted   from  wages. 


106        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

society  is  now  organized  our  cheerful  charities  must 
of  course  continue.  But  it  is  well  for  us  to  remind 
ourselves  that,  as  society  is  now  organized,  perhaps 
half  of  whatever  we  give  in  charity  may  well  be 
regarded  as  a  contribution,  not  to  the  poor,  but  indi- 
rectly to  the  Colossus. 

Materialism.  Serious  as  are  the  grievances  already 
discussed,  perhaps  they  are  not  the  most  grievous  of 
all.  Worse  than  all  else  may  well  be  the  penetration 
of  our  souls  by  the  materialistic  ideals  of  the  Colossus. 
We  have  an  infectious  disease  here  in  America  that 
renders  real  democracy  well  nigh  impossible.  Only 
two  things  are  worse  in  their  effects  upon  democracy, 
one  is  ignorance  and  the  other  is  dishonesty.  The 
disease  is  aristocratitis.  How  can  we  collectively  be 
a  democracy  when  individually  we  are  bent  above  all 
things  else  upon  outstripping  our  neighbors  in  ma- 
terial achievement  and  the  envious  display  of  luxuri- 
ous consumption.  Democracies  are  made  of  different 
relations;  social  progress,  of  achievement  along  other 
lines.  But  the  disease  is  due  to  a  germ,  bacillus  aris- 
tocraticus,  of  which  the  Colossus  is  the  carrier.  The 
wrong  ideals  of  the  middle  class,  one  of  the  causes 
for  their  elimination,  are  themselves  due  in  part  at 
least  to  the  influence  of  our  modern,  soulless,  large- 
scale  industry. 

The  materialism  of  the  present  age  penetrates  the 
innermost  depths  of  our  spiritual  lives,  producing  a 
disastrous  bewilderment  in  many  minds  as  to  what 
the  values  of  life  really  are.  Very  many  persons  are 
seeking  satisfaction  in  those  interests  which  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  can  never  satisfy;  while  the 
really  satisfying  interests   of   life  are  often  blindly 


SPECIAL   GRIEVANCES   OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS      107 

ignored.     The   following  hymn  expresses  this  con- 
fusion : 

This  age  deceives  us,  Lord,1 

And  leads  our  lives  astray; 
Its  lures  of  pelf  and  pride 

Our  restless  hearts  betray. 
It  scourges  us  with  haste 

To  win  an  envious  prize; 
Contentment,  love  and  peace 

It  bids  us  sacrifice. 

The  nations  pity,  Lord; 

How  furiously  they  rage 
For  markets  in  the  sun — 

The  baubles  of  the  age! 
The  rich  exploit  the  poor, 

With  greed  insatiate, 
Till  class  contends  with  class 

In  envy,  lust  and  hate. 

Restore  the  joys,  O  Lord, 

That  deeply  satisfy, 
That  sharing  each  with  all 

Can  only  multiply  : — 
A  work  of  love  and  art, 

A  shaded  plot  of  sod, 
The  kiss  of  childish  lips, 

And  conscience  right  with  God ! 

This  bewilderment  of  aim  is  significantly  illustrated 
in  one  of  the  most  popular  pieces  of  recent  fiction, 
"Main  Street,"  by  Sinclair  Lewis.  The  one  thing  this 
book  lacks  is  clear  insight  as  to  what  the  satisfying 
experiences  and  interests  of  life  really  are.  The 
author's  poisonous  cynicism  and  negative  ethical 
philosophy  caricatures  middle  class  life  in  the  typical 
American  village.  In  refreshing  contrast  is  Dorothy 
Canfield's  "The  Brimming  Cup."  With  consummate 
art  she  displays  the  real  values  of  life.  Her  typical, 
middle  class  characters  glorify  the  common  lot,  because 

1  This  hymn  may  be  sung  to  the  tune  Jewett,   from  Weber's 
Freischiitz  Overture.    The  melody  is  in  the  tenor. 


IOS        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

there  is  no  confusion  in  their  minds  as  to  what  those 
things  are  that  make  life  really  worth  the  living.  This 
is  an  unusually  wholesome  piece  of  fiction,  containing 
a  message  which  middle  class  Americans  very  much 
need  to  hear  and  take  to  heart. 

The  excessive  materialism  of  the  age  is  a  spiritual 
by-product  of  modern  capitalism,  which  is  short  of 
regular  type  for  setting  up  the  word  "$u^e$$."  But 
the  age  cannot  permanently  serve  both  democracy  and 
the  Colossus,  for  either  it  will  love  the  one  and  hate 
the  other  or  else  it  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise 
the  other.  If  we  of  the  middle  class  are  to  be  the  salt 
of  the  earth,  we  cannot  serve  two  masters;  for  the 
foundations  of  a  new  social  order  are  spiritual. 

These  are  the  sins  of  the  Colossus.  They  consti- 
tute the  grievances  of  the  middle  class.  Taken  to- 
gether they  are  polarizing  modern  society.  The  time 
when  there  will  be  no  middle  class  in  America  will 
not  come  in  our  day,  nor  in  our  children's,  nor  yet 
perhaps  in  our  grandchildren's.  But  come  eventually 
it  surely  will  unless  these  tendencies  are  corrected. 
The  final  grievance  of  the  middle  class  will  be  extinc- 
tion unless  modern,  large-scale,  machinofacture  capi- 
talism is  constrained  to  desist  from  its  abuses. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   PARADOX   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION 

NOT  only  are  we — quite  as  much  as  labor — the 
victims  of  modern  capitalism,  but,  conversely, 
such  reforms  as  those  outlined  in  Chapter  X 
would  benefit  us  in  the  long  run  no  less  than  they  would 
benefit  labor  itself.  For,  paradoxical  as  it  may  sound, 
we  shall  save  ourselves  in  the  long  run  only  by  saving 
the  laboring  class.  No  social  class  liveth  unto  itself 
alone.  If  we  can  raise  the  status  of  the  masses  by 
insisting  that  the  great  generals  of  modern  industry 
turn  over  to  labor  a  sufficient  share  in  the  profits  to 
guarantee  them  a  decent  American  standard  of  living 
and  reasonable  access  to  the  good  things  of  the  cultural 
life,  we  shall  thereby  save  room  for  ourselves  upon  the 
earth.  But  if  we  permit  the  laboring  class  in  America 
to  degenerate  into  a  real  "proletariat,"  we  and  our 
descendants  will  go  under  with  them.  If  we  can  help 
labor  to  achieve  a  status  satisfying  to  self-respecting 
American  citizens,  our  own  future  will  be  assured  with 
theirs,  and  the  American  type  of  middle  class  democ- 
racy will  survive.     But  not  otherwise! 

Our  stake  in  the  lower  class -can  be  seen  from  many 
points  of  view.  For  instance,  what  does  this  rush  to 
the  high  schools,  colleges  and  universities  mean?  Fifty- 
eight  per  cent  of  the  students  in  the  University  of 
Minnesota  were  supporting  themselves  in  whole  or  in 

109 


IIO        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

large  part  last  year.  May  this  not  mean,  among  other 
things,  that  ambitious  young  men  of  the  lower  class 
are  trying  as  never  before  to  crowd  into  our  middle- 
class  professions?  The  growing  capitalization  of  land 
and  the  growth  of  capitalistic  marketing  are  reducing 
the  opportunities  in  agriculture  for  young  men  of  small 
means.  Chain  stores,  lines  of  elevators  and  lumber 
yards,  mail-order  houses,  and  other  like  capitalistic 
developments  in  the  retail  trade  are  hypothecating 
the  chances  in  small  business.  But  there  are  the  pro- 
fessions and  there  are  salaried  positions  with  the  meat 
trust,  the  oil  trust,  the  lumber  trust,  or  what  not,  for 
which  educated  men  are  preferred.  And  this  may  be 
one  reason  why  the  sons  of  laboring  men  and  of  recent 
immigrants  are  as  never  before  crowding  against  the 
elbows  of  our  own  sons  in  the  high  schools,  colleges 
and  universities. 

If  labor  were  lifted  to  a  new  level — Farming  has 
been  lifted  to  a  new  level  by  applying  science  to  it  and 
utilizing  machinery  in  it.  The  "man  'with  the  hoe" 
now  sits  erect  on  a  motor-drawn  riding  plow,  and 
applies  physics,  chemistry  and  biology  to  his  work. 
Many  other — perhaps  most — lines  of  work  can  be  lifted 
to  a  new  level  by  applying  science  to  them  and  utilizing 
machinery  in  them,  and  furnishing  appropriate  educa- 
tion in  preparation  for  them.  That  would  increase 
both  their  dignity  and  their  productivity.  And  then 
if  the  trained  worker  were  given  a  voice  in  the  manage- 
ment and  a  decent  share  in  the  profits  he  would  feel 
himself  a  fairly  treated  citizen  of  a  real  democracy. 
Expand  the  laborers'  world  to  a  status  commensurate 
with  the  dignity  and  rights  of  typical  American  citi- 


THE   PARADOX    OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  III 

zens,  and  they  will  leave  our  middle  class  professions 
to  our  sons  and  grandsons.  The  way  for  us  to  hold 
a  sphere  open  for  our  own  sons  is  to  open  up  an 
entirely  new  sphere  and  status  in  labor  itself  for  the 
sons  of  labor. 

Again:  The  world  always  has  overlooked  and  still 
does  overlook  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  develop- 
ing the  purchasing  power  of  the  masses.  We  talk 
about  foreign  markets,  assuming  that  new  and  expand- 
ing foreign  markets  must  be  found  if  our  industries 
are  to  expand  to  new  and  larger  proportions.  And  to 
gain  those  foreign  markets  we  are  willing  to  brew 
international  strife.  But  we  blindly  overlook  the  most 
obvious  and  accessible  new  market :  namely,  the  unde- 
veloped purchasing  power  of  the  poor.  If  the  millions 
who  now  subsist  on  a  bare  subsistence  level  were  sud- 
denly to  buy  the  additional  goods  and  services  that  they 
need  for  a  decent  American  standard  of  living,  their 
new  demands  would  stimulate  American  business  like 
the  sudden  war  demands  of  1 914.  It  cannot  be  done 
suddenly,  of  course,  but  it  can  be  done  gradually ;  and 
for  American  trade  gradually  to  develop  that  market 
would  perhaps  create  more  business  in  the  long  run 
than  to  develop  a  trade  with  Russia  and  with  China 
both.  And  it  would  come  directly  home  to  our  middle 
class  occupations.  Let  almost  any  reader  figure  out 
the  probable  increase  of  his  own  earnings  as  a  result 
of  the  laboring  people  with  whom  he  deals  enjoying 
the  kind  of  an  income  that  he  himself  would  consider 
necessary.  The  doctor  would  make  more  money  if  the 
poor  he  treats  were  comfortably  well-to-do;  the  mer- 
chant would  sell  more  goods  if  the  poor  he  sells  to 


112        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

could  buy  more  and  pay  more  promptly;    the  banker 
could  show  larger  dividends  and  surplus  if  his  savings 
accounts  grew  faster ;  and  so  on  throughout  the  list  of 
us  middle  class  people  who  do  business  with  the  sixty- 
live  per  cent  whom  King  puts  in  the  propertyless  class. 
Of    course   you    cannot    make    something    out    of 
nothing.     It  is  not  chiefly  by  a  better  distribution  of 
wealth,  but  by  a  better  conservation,  a  more  efficient 
production  and  a  wiser  consumption,  that  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  the  poor  can  be  increased.     By  better 
education  of  the  masses,  by  improved  vocational  train- 
ing, by  increased  technical  skill,  the  productive  power 
of  the  masses  can  be  very  greatly  increased.     So  can 
it  be  increased  also  by  a  reorganization  of  industry 
that  will  restore  the  motive  for  work.     The  increased 
purchasing  power  of  the  poor  need  come  out  of  no 
others'   share,  therefore;    certainly  not  out  of  ours. 
Strange  how  the  old  superstition  persists  that  the  pros- 
perity of  some  of  us  is  dependent  upon  the  poverty  of 
the  rest  of  us!     Sociologists  are  now  coming  to  see 
clearly  that  the  exact  opposite  is  true,  namely :  that  no 
class  can  be  permanently  prosperous  unless  all  classes 
are  prosperous.     How  destitute  we  are  of  imagination; 
and  how  hypnotized  by  things-as-they-are. 

Once  more :  We  have  been  exhorted  a  good  deal  of 
late  to  raise  larger  families.  But  in  much  of  this  talk 
about  race  suicide  the  cart  has  been  put  before  the  horse. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  lowered  birth  rate  goes  with  a 
higher  civilization.  If  we  of  the  native  white  stock 
are  a  declining  percentage  of  the  population,  it  is  not 
because  our  birth  rate  is  too  low  but  because  it  is 
relatively  too  low.  The  way  to  hold  our  own  is  not 
to  raise  more  children,  but  to  induce  the  lower  classes 


THE    PARADOX    OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  II3 

to  raise  fewer  children.1  And  the  formula  for  that  is 
well  known  to  all  economists  and  sociologists,  namely : 
raise  their  standard  of  living.  Restrict  immigration, 
and  arbitrate  labor  disputes  in  favor  of  wages  adequate 
to  decent,  wholesome  American  living,  and  race  suicide 
will  take  care  of  itself.  The  birth  rate  of  the  laboring 
class  and  of  the  foreign  born  will  automatically  decline, 
and  our  ratio  will  be  restored. 

The  fact  is,  we  of  the  middle  class  have  an  entirely 
false  social  creed  in  the  backs  of  our  heads.  We 
believe  in  a  society  in  which  everybody  is  faced  in  the 
same  direction,  namely,  toward  the  prizes  at  the  top, 
and  in  which  everybody  is  trying  to  outdistance  every- 
body else  and  reach  the  prizes  first.  That  is  what 
political  and  social  philosophers  call  an  individualistic 
philosophy,  and  which  they  now  recognize  the  nine- 
teenth century  to  have  badly  overdone.  It  is  what  the 
common  run  of  us  have  had  bred  into  the  bone  till  we 
suppose  it  to  be  the  very  inherent  constitution  of  the 
universe.  We  mouth  it  off  as  the  last  word  of  the 
argument. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  the  grand  illusion  of  the 
age.  It  squarely  contradicts  the  plain  teachings  of 
Jesus.  And  when  one  thinks  about  the  ideals  and 
aspirations  of  democracy,  and  then  thinks  about  this 
individualistic  philosophy  with  its  implications  (e.  g., 
that  a  very  considerable  supply  of  cheap — i.  e.,  igno- 
rant, poverty-stricken — labor  is  necessary  to  the  success 
of  industry),  and  then  thinks  about  them  both  together, 
he  sees  clearly  that  we  must  eventually  abandon  either 

1  See  "Controlled  Fecundity,"  by  Professor  E.  A.  Ross,  in  The 
New  Republic  for  January  25,  1922.  A  paper  read  at  the  Pitts- 
burgh, 1921,  meeting  of  the  American  Sociological  Society. 


114        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

the  one  or  the  other.  The  ideals  of  democracy  and 
this  individualistic  philosophy  are  utterly  contradictory 
and  incompatible.  Unless  we  are  ready  to  renounce 
the  hope  of  working  out  a  just  democracy,  we  must 
have  the  courage  frankly  to  abandon  this  every- fellow- 
for-himself  individualism  that  has  dominated  the 
thought  of  the  last  century. 

We  need  an  entirely  new  notion  of  what  a  rational 
society  is.  Not  the  prizes  at  the  top  but  the  welfare 
at  the  bottom,  is  the  criterion  for  a  democracy.  Not 
chances  for  a  few  poor  boys  to  rise  out  of  their  class, 
but  a  chance  for  the  whole  class  to  rise  bodily  out  of 
its  status  of  poverty  and  ignorance :  that  is  the  new 
idea!  A  decent,  wholesome  standard  of  living  for 
every  American  family,  and  a  satisfying  share  in  the 
cultural  life;  that  is  a  reasonable  society. 

Pestalozzi,  the  Swiss  educational  reformer  of  a  cen- 
tury or  more  ago,  set  forth  an  extremely  suggestive 
parable  that  is  both  interesting  and  pertinent  in  this 
connection.  He  said  that  once  upon  a  time  there  was 
a  certain  pond  inhabited  mostly  by  minnows.  It  was 
ruled  over,  however,  by  a  small  school  of  pike,  who 
fed  upon  the  minnows.  Having  endured  their  injus- 
tices for  a  long  time  the  minnows  called  a  meeting  of 
protest.  As  a  result  of  this  meeting,  a  committee  was 
sent  to  the  headquarters  of  the  pike  to  demand  a  redress 
of  grievances.  The  old  pike  at  the  head  of  the  small 
school  received  the  committee  of  minnows  graciously, 
listened  to  them  courteously,  and  appointed  a  day  in 
the  future  when  they  should  return  to  hear  the  decision 
of  the  pike  after  due  deliberation.  Upon  the  appointed 
day  the  committee  returned  and  received  the  answer 
of  the  pike  as  follows :  that  thereafter  one  minnow  out 


THE   PARADOX    OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  1 1 5 

of  a  thousand  might  himself  become  a  pike!  The 
minnows  gratefully  accepted  this  wise  and  generous 
offer. 

The  nineteenth  century  put  its  faith  in  increased 
production  as  a  sufficient  means  of  economic  and  social 
salvation.  Increased  and  ever  increasing  production : 
faith  in  this  economic  gospel  amounted  almost  to  a 
fanatical  obsession.  But  it  is  a  one-sided  gospel. 
Taken  alone  it  only  postpones  and  aggravates  the  social 
problem.  It  is  high  time  that  we  supplemented  it  with 
a  new  creed.  Social  salvation,  like  personal  salvation, 
is  to  be  had  through  faith  in  a  paradox :  to  raise  the 
standard  of  living  of  the  lower  class.  That  is  the 
objective  which  we  must  aim  at  directly.  It  sounds 
like  advising  one  to  lift  himself  by  his  boot  straps; 
but  self -contradictory  as  it  sounds,  it  will  work. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  benefits  that  will  accrue 
from  driving  a  wedge  under  the  standards  of  wage 
earners. 

First :  it  is  a  necessary  eugenic  measure.  The  lower 
the  standard  the  higher  the  birthrate,  and  conversely. 
The  lower  classes  are  breeding  faster  than  the  upper 
classes.  Assuming,  as  is  safe,  that  the  poor  have  a 
larger  percentage  of  poor  brains,  this  means  that  the 
poor  stock  is  outbreeding  the  best  stock.  Where  that 
will  lead  to  is  plain  enough.  The  way  out  is  not  to 
scold  the  prosperous  classes  about  race  suicide.  That 
will  have  no  effect.  The  way  out  is  to  reduce  the 
birthrate  of  the  poor;  and  the  only  thing  that  will 
accomplish  that  is  to  raise  their  standard  of  living  for 
them. 

Second :  part  of  a  higher  standard  of  living  for  the 
poor  is  more  education.     Raise  their  standard  of  living 


Il6        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

and  they  will  stay  longer  in  school.  That  will  give 
society  a  chance  to  train  them  for  citizenships — teach 
them  civics.  Without  such  training  the  masses  will 
foment  and  vote  for  wild-cat  reforms  of  all  sorts.  The 
salvation  of  political  democracy  depends  upon  an  en- 
lightened citizenry;  but  enlightenment  is  not  for  a 
poverty  stricken  laboring  class.  We  must  raise  their 
standard  of  living  for  them. 

Third:  there  can  hardly  be  a  wholesome  we-feeling 
between  the  very  poor  and  the  prosperous.  If  we  are 
to  have  social  homogeneity — and  have  it  we  must,  or 
perish — we  must  raise  the  standards  of  the  poor.  Bol- 
shevism breeds  among  the  miserable. 

Fourth :  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  way  to 
expand  American  markets  is  to  increase  the  purchasing 
power  of  our  own  poor.  It  is  amazing  that  business 
men  are  so  "hypnotized  by  the  present  reality"  that 
they  have  overlooked  this  "acre  of  diamonds." 

Fifth:  the  real  secret  of  increasing  production  is  to 
raise  the  standard  of  living  of  the  poor.  We  have  had 
the  motor  on  the  trailer.  Raise  the  incomes  of  the 
poor  first;  then  increased  production  will  follow. 
There  are  many  reasons  why  this  is  so,  but  the  chief 
reason  is  that  a  high  standard,  once  enjoyed,  is  the 
greatest  motive  force  in  the  world.  It  makes  people 
ambitious.  This  is  not  theory  but  history.  People 
with  high  standards  get  the  vocational  training  and 
equipment  to  maintain  them.  A  technically  trained 
laboring  class  is  a  certainty,  once  their  standards  of 
living  have  been  raised.  And  a  technically  trained 
laboring  class  means  highly  productive  industries. 

Sixth :  there  is  a  suspicion  that  the  low  standards  of 
the  poor  may  be  among  the  causes  for  our  periodical 


THE    PARADOX    OF   THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    SALVATION  II7 

business  depressions.  We  are  accustomed  to  say  that 
they  are  due  to  over  production.  Under  consumption 
means  practically  the  same  thing,  does  it  not  ?  Econo- 
mists tell  us  there  is  no  limit  to  human  wants.  But 
there  is  a  very  definite  limit  to  what  the  poor  can  buy. 
And  there  is  just  as  definite  a  limit  to  what  the  rich  do 
buy.  What  is  the  range  of  their  wants?  Luxuries, 
to  be  sure;  but  in  limited  amounts.  Their  want  to 
which  there  is  no  limit  is  the  excitement,  the  success, 
and  the  resultant  power  of  the  industrial  game  itself. 
Hence  their  settled  policy  of  turning  as  large  a  pro- 
portion as  possible  of  the  products  of  industry  back 
into  "production  goods."  There  the  surplus  produces 
more  and  more  of  what  the  market  presently  begins  to 
get  glutted  with.  The  culmination  eventually  is  a 
business  depression.  Peter  Buyer  has  been  robbed  to 
over  pay  Paul  Producer ;  his  revenge  is  that  he  cannot 
buy  the  product. 

If  there  is  any  soundness  in  this  line  of  reasoning 
it  follows  that  to  consume  a  somewhat  larger  proportion 
of  the  product  of  industry,  and  to  turn  a  somewhat 
smaller  proportion  back  into  the  business,  would  render 
business  depressions  less  frequent.  The  obvious  way 
to  do  that  is  to  raise  the  standard  of  living  of  the  poor, 
by  spreading  their  consumption  out  over  a  wider  arc  of 
their  needs. 

The  combined  effect  of  these  six  benefits  would  be 
nothing  short  of  revolutionary.  In  such  a  world  as 
they  would  make,  the  middle  class  would  be  safe  and 
happy. 

The  unappreciated  greatness  of  Malthus  and  Ricardo 
was  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  It  lay  chiefly 
in  the  fact  that  they  saw  the  truth  just  expounded,  and 


Il8        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

set  it  forth  so  early  before  an  incredulous,  visionless 
age.  The  "foresight  and  prudence"  in  limiting  the 
size  of  their  families,  that  comes  to  people  with  culture 
and  prosperity,  was  Malthus'  "preventive  check."  "The 
friends  of  humanity  cannot  but  wish,"  wrote  Ricardo, 
"that  in  all  countries  the  labouring  classes  should  have 
a  taste  for  comforts  and  enjoyments,  and  that  they 
should  be  stimulated  by  all  legal  means  in  their  exer- 
tions to  procure  them.  ...  In  those  countries  where  the 
labouring  classes  have  the  fewest  wants,  and  are  con- 
tented with  the  cheapest  food,  the  people  are  exposed 
to  the  greatest  vicissitudes  and  miseries." 

These  are  the  formulas  by  which  humanity  can 
escape  the  perennial  ruthlessness  of  the  struggle  for 
existence ;  but  without  their  application  there  will  never 
be  any  escape,  except  temporarily  during  exceptional 
periods  like  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  in  this  insight 
that  the  greatness  of  these  great  thinkers  inheres. 

We  need,  therefore,  a  radically  revolutionized  pro- 
gram for  ourselves  and  for  our  sons;  a  program  that 
calls  for  quite  as  much  cooperative  attention  to  the 
masses  below  us  as  individual  attention  to  the  prizes 
above  us.  By  such  a  program  we  shall  not  be  dragged 
down  to  the  level  of  the  masses,  as  we  vaguely  fear; 
but  the  level  of  ourselves  and  of  them  will  all  be  raised 
together.  To  believe  this  and  to  act  accordingly  is 
the  supreme  act  of  Christian  faith.  The  class  that 
seeketh  its  own  life  shall  lose  it,  but  the  class  that  giveth 
its  life  to  the  cause  of  social  justice  for  all,  the  same 
shall  find  it.  As  soon  as  the  middle  class  of  this  nation 
becomes  Christian  enough  to  believe  that,  the  social 
unrest  will  be  at  an  end.    For  pagans  there  is  no  peace ! 

It  is  quite  surprising  how  generally  we  have  inherited 


THE   PARADOX    OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  I IO, 

this  every- fellow- for-himself  philosophy  without  exam- 
ining its  teeth.  In  reality,  it  is  quite  as  much  out  of 
date  as  poor  old  Dobbin  himself,  and  for  similar 
reasons.  It  applied  well  enough  to  the  world  of  small 
shops  and  plenty-of -land-out- west,  before  the  Civil 
War;  but  it  does  not  apply  to  the  world  of  colossal 
industrial  plants,  and  billion-dollar  corporations.  And 
yet  middle  class  gentlemen,  who  would  be  chagrined 
to  ride  around  in  a  top-buggy,  are  unashamed  to  ride 
around  in  a  social  philosophy  contemporaneous  with 
the  deacon's  wonderful  "one-hoss"  chaise. 

But  let  us  take  a  look  at  the  facts.  According  to 
King,1  the  distribution  of  incomes  in  1910  was  as 
follows : 


38.92%  of  the  families  have  incomes  of  less  than 

$700 

5i.54%   "     "         "           "           "         "        "        " 

800 

75.96%   "     " 

1,100 

00.31%   "     "         "           "           " 

1,500 

98.39%   "     " 

4,000 

To  compare  King's  estimates,  with  estimates  for 
1918,  let  us  take  the  figures  given  on  page  69,  select 
the  percentages  most  nearly  corresponding  to  those  just 
above,  and  divide  the  incomes  listed  by  two,  since  the 
cost  of  living  was  approximately  twice  as  high  in  1918 
as  in  1 9 10,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  any  good 
table  of  index  numbers.     We  get  the  following: 

19 18       19 10 

(.Approxi- 
mately) 


86%  of  the  people  got  incomes  of  less  than  $2000 
90%  of  the  people  got  incomes  of  less  than  2400 
99%  of  the  people  got  incomes  of  less  than    8000 


$1000 
1200 
4000 


*  "Wealth  and  Income  of  Ahe  People  of  the  Un.  _*d  States,"  p. 
228:  cf.  p.  68  above. 


120        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

What  now  do  these  figures  mean  ?  They  mean  that 
fewer  than  two  young  men  in  a  hundred  can  hope  to 
achieve  an  income  of  $4,000  (or  the  1922  equivalent). 
Not  two  girls  in  a  hundred  can  hope  to  marry  that  sort 
of  an  income.  The  other  ninety-eight  are  foredoomed 
to  disappointment.  And  when  one  considers  that  the 
two  per  cent  who  will  actually  enjoy  the  $4,000  incomes 
will  be  chiefly  those  who  inherit  rather  than  achieve 
them,  it  begins  to  appear  how  hopeless  is  the  struggle 
of  the  middle  class  to  get  into  the  upper  two  per  cent. 
We  on  the  bases  are  not  going  to  bat!  At  any  rate, 
not  enough  of  us  to  make  the  struggle  worth  while. 
We  have  been  assuming  that  we  were  going  to  because 
we  have  been  accepting  an  old  theory  instead  of  exam- 
ining the  new  facts.  The  plain  facts  suggest  that  this 
every-fellow-for-himself  game  is  not  likely  to  get  us 
anywhere,  after  all. 

There  is  a  special  group  of  middle  class  persons  who 
are  the  special  victims  of  the  illusion  just  discussed. 
They  are  the  spinsters.  In  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for 
February,  1922,  one  of  this  group  frankly  admits,  with 
tears  in  her  voice,  that  she  wants  a  husband,  a  kitchen 
and  children.  She  implies  that  nearly  all  would  make 
the  same  admission  if  they  were  equally  frank.  Let 
us  assume  that  they  would;  the  fact  is,  nevertheless, 
that  most  of  them  are  doomed  to  disappointment. 

But  one  never  sees  nor  hears  a  hint  that  these  women 
ever  look  beneath  the  surface  of  individual  circum- 
stances, into  the  complex  of  economic  forces,  for  the 
cause  of  their  heartache.  Women  can  see  that  war 
robs  them  of  husbands  and  thwarts  their  instinctive 
desire  for  babies;  they  recognize  that  intemperance 
ruins  their  men  and  handicaps  their  children ;  but  they 


THE   PARADOX    OF   THE    MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  121 

seem  utterly  incapable  of  discerning  that  involuntary 
celibacy  and  childlessness  are  being  forced  upon  them 
by  the  ruthless  exploitation  of  the  Colossus. 

These  women  are  among  the  best  of  their  class: 
capable,  independent  and  proud.  Many  are  even  fas- 
tidious !  By  their  own  earnings  they  easily  maintain 
themselves  on  a  high,  middle  class  standard  of  living. 
Men  in  the  84  per  cent  are  naturally  somewhat  over- 
awed, and  a  little  doubtful  of  their  eligibility.  As  for 
common  laborers ! 

Unless  a  man  is  in  the  upper  5  per  cent  his  income 
is  hardly  a  talking  point. 

There  are  men  enough  to  go  around ;  but  the  wifeless 
and  homeless  are  notoriously  jobless.  Them,  these 
high-grade  spinsters  do  not  want,  of  course.  But 
even  of  them,  not  all  by  any  means  are  biologically  un- 
fit. Many  a  woman  has  agonized  to  bring  into  the 
world  a  perfectly  promising  man  child,  only  to  have 
him  spoiled  before  adulthood  by  the  grip  of  the  Colos- 
sus. Whereupon  some  other  woman's  girl  child  goes 
loveless,  lonely  and  childless  through  life. 

The  Colossus  has  a  preference  for  women  as  em- 
ployees— they  work  cheaper  than  men!  In  1910  there 
were  23  per  cent  of  women  gainfully  employed,  as 
against  14  per  cent  in  1890.  The  increasing  competi- 
tion of  women  must  have  some  effect  upon  the  wages 
and  unemployment  of  men.  This  new  economic  inde- 
pendence which  women  are  demanding,  and  which 
modern,  large  scale  industry  is  granting  them  with 
such  alacrity,  what  is  it  doing  to  them  when  they  get  it  ? 

The  remedy  is  to  push  the  84  per  cent  down  toward 
50  per  cent,  encourage  the  organized,  skilled  trades  in 
their  efforts  to  better  themselves,  and  create  a  public 


122        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

demand  that  common  labor  be  accorded  a  decent  Amer- 
ican standard  of  living.  Said  Ibsen:  "If  I  were  God 
I  would  have  pity  on  the  hearts  of  men."  If  there  is  to 
be  pity  on  the  hearts  of  women  in  subsequent  genera- 
tions it  will  come  only  as  women  of  this  generation 
work  collectively  for  the  emancipation  of  men  from 
industrial  exploitation. 

The  facts  are  that  this  ambitious  struggle  of  ours 
to  get  somewhere  is  in  reality  a  desperate  and  too  often 
a  losing  struggle  merely  to  hold  our  own — "and  the 
devil  take  the  hindermost."  Nor  must  we  forget  that 
the  percentages  in  each  class  are  fixed  by  the  rules 
of  the  game.  The  only  way  we  can  create  extra  room 
for  ourselves  is  by  changing  the  rules.  There  is  far 
more  probability  that  the  brightest  and  most  capable 
in  the  class  just  below  us  will  crowd  us  out,  than  that 
we  shall  crowd  out  somebody  higher  up.  This  is  the 
meaning  of  the  terrible  strain  of  middle-class  existence, 
of  which  we  are  all  so  conscious,  and  which  shows  up 
statistically  in  the  declining  percentage  of  middle  class 
wealth  and  of  native  white  birth  rate.  And  to  the 
strain  of  the  fight  is  added  the  strain  of  camouflaging 
our  actual  defeat.  That  is  what  "keeping  up  appear- 
ances" really  means :  the  expensive  pretense  of  having 
arrived  where  we  expect  to  arrive  presently,  but  in 
reality  never  shall.  The  strain  of  this  pretense  is 
squandering  our  resources  and  restricting  our  birth 
rate. 

We  of  the  middle  class  have  been  deceiving  ourselves 
with  regard  to  the  whole  program  of  success  and  the 
probability  of  achieving  the  prizes  at  the  top.  We 
look  at  the  "captains  of  industry"  on  the  upper  rungs 


THE   PARADOX   OF   THE   MIDDLE   CLASS   SALVATION  I2J 

of  the  ladder  and  imagine  that  by  industry  and  brains 
we  can  achieve  like  positions.  But  the  dice  are  loaded 
against  us !  It  can  be  demonstrated  mathematically 
that  only  one  in  fifty  can  be  in  the  richest  two  per  cent, 
and  they  are  not  likely  to  be  our  sons  but  the  sons 
of  those  already  there.  Of  the  other  forty-nine  per 
cent  a  considerable  proportion  are  liable  to  be  scattered 
as  wreckage  along  the  road.  That  is  predestined.  If 
we  play  our  cards  to  be  upper  class  or  nothing,  we 
take  a  long  chance  that  it  will  be  nothing.  That  is  one 
way  to  express  the  disintegration  of  the  middle  class. 
The  trouble  is  that  we  regard  those  few  big  prizes  as 
legitimate  prizes  and  the  game  as  a  legitimate  game. 
There  is  nothing  legitimate  about  the  prizes,  nor  the 
game,  either.  Competitive  prizes  are  being  abandoned 
in  modern  public  education  as  poor  pedagogy  because 
they  fail  to  motivate  the  great  majority.  Only  one  can 
get  the  prize,  only  a  few  have  any  prospect  of  getting 
it,  the  fact  is  well  understood  by  all  the  pupils  from 
the  outset,  the  majority  make  no  effort,  and  the  winner 
is  liable  to  be  made  a  prig.  The  principle  applies  out- 
side of  school  as  well.  We  do  not  want  great  American 
Beauty1  roses  that  are  matured  only  by  snipping  off 
all  the  other  buds.  The  buds  mean  our  own  sons. 
We  ought  to  have  a  game  in  which  every  normal 
person,  if  he  really  tries,  can  be  reasonably  sure  of 
winning  a  worthy  reward,  instead  of  a  game  in  which 
the  percentage  of  waste  is  bound  to  be  so  great.  Many 
of  our  own  sons  are  the  predestined  victims  of  the  game 

1  The  allusion  is  to  a  remark  in  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.'s, 
graduating  oration  at  Brown  University  some  twenty  odd  years 
ago,  against  which,  at  the  time,  there  was  a  storm  of  middle  class 
resentment. 


124        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

as  it  is  now  played.  We  should  quit  holding  up  multi- 
millionaires as  objects  of  their  hero  worship,  and  set 
ourselves  to  the  business  of  making  the  world  over  so 
that  there  can  scarcely  be  any  multi-millionaires  at  all, 
and  scarcely  any  class  at  all  subsisting  below  a  level  of 
decent  comfort  and  wholesome  culture  commensurate 
with  their  mentality.  We  ourselves  in  the  long  run 
would  be  the  chief  beneficiaries  of  such  a  readjustment. 
A  Christian  world  is  better  for  us  than  a  pagan ! 

A  word  further  about  these  individualistic  theories 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  especially  about  some  of 
their  implications.  We  are  all  as  confident  as  phono- 
graphs about  many  things  that  are  only  half  true.  We 
believe  that  it  is  necessary  and  inevitable  that  laborers 
be  poor ;  that  need,  or  the  hope  of  wealth,  are  the  only 
incentives  that  will  induce  men  to  work;  that  high 
wages  would  ruin  our  industries  in  the  competitive 
markets  of  the  world;  that  luxuries  are  inherently 
proper  for  the  rich,  but  anything  more  than  bare  neces- 
sities inherently  absurd  for  the  laboring  class ;  that  the 
high  cost  of  living  is  due  chiefly  to  the  unwarranted 
demands  of  labor;  that  the  poor  are  squalid  because 
they  expend  their  incomes  unwisely;  that  labor  is 
scarce,  immigration  necessary,  and  unemployment  due 
to  unemployability ;  that  stock  jugglery  is  legitimate 
business;  that  making  money  is  the  same  as  produc- 
tion; that  "unearned  increment"  is  really  earned  by 
clever  foresight;  that  great  wealth  is,  fortunately  for 
the  community,  in  the  hands  of  demonstrated  ability 
to  handle  it;  that  merit  finds  its  level;  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 
We  contend  for  all  these  half-truths  as  valiantly  as  the 
southern  crackers  fought  for  the  slave  system,  as  the 
German  peasants  bled  to  win  for  their  Junkers  "a  place 


THE    PARADOX    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    SALVATION  125 

in  the  sun,"  and  as  the  French  youth  followed  Napoleon 
into  Egypt  and  Russia.  But  we  ourselves  are  the  dupes 
of  the  fallacies  involved  in  these  pernicious  half  truths 
which  our  "Napoleons  of  finance"  so  sedulously  pro- 
mulgate. 

That  the  middle  class  itself  is  the  victim  of  un- 
restrained capitalism,  and  of  the  individualistic  theories 
with  which  it  drugs  its  victims,  the  socialists  have 
clearly  seen  for  half  a  century.  But  they  do  not  expect 
us  ever  to  open  our  eyes  to  the  facts.  They  expect  us 
to  grope  on,  as  blind  as  we  now  are,  till  the  crack  of 
doom,  which,  in  their  creed,  is  the  dawn  of  their  alleged 
Utopia.  But  there  is  an  easy  way  to  disappoint  them : 
namely,  to  promote  the  economic  reforms  advocated  in 
Chapters  XI  and  XII,  supplemented  by  the  spiritual 
advances  suggested  in  the  remaining  chapters  of  this 
book.  That  will  take  the  wind  all  out  of  the  sails  of 
socialism,  and  save  a  generous  place  in  the  world  for 
our  own  grandsons  and  great-grandsons. 

Let  us  conclude  this  chapter  with  a  restatement,  in 
somewhat  different  form,  of  the  proposition  with  which 
we  began  it,  namely :  ultimate  social  salvation  for  us 
of  the  middle  class  will  be  achieved  by  uniting  with  the 
classes  below  us  in  achieving  a  mutual  salvation  in 
which  all  may  share.  It  has  always  been  the  device 
of  autocracy  to  divide  the  people  and  overwhelm  the 
factions  one  at  a  time,  usually  by  an  alliance  with  the 
others.  Read  again  the  story  of  Metternich  and  the 
collapse  of  democratic  aspirations  in  central  Europe 
under  the  wheels  of  the  Hapsburg-Hohenzollern- 
Romanoff  combination.  The  perennial  strategy  was 
to  keep  popular  factions  divided.  Always  divided! 
Always  the  people  could  see  the  cost  of  going  into 


126        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

an  alliance,  but  seldom  the  cost  of  staying  out.  It 
will  be  the  same  with  us  of  the  middle  class  and  our 
natural  allies  of  the  laboring  class.  In  union  there  is 
salvation  for  both ;  not  otherwise. 

In  this  connection  the  following  quotation  (p.  19) 
from  "The  Control  of  the  Trusts,"  by  the  Clarks,  is 
quite  suggestive: 

"Some  laborers  are  at  times  attached  to  trusts  by  mo- 
mentary and  precarious  interests.  They  hope  that,  if 
the  companies  exact  high  prices  from  the  purchasing 
public,  they  can  be  made  to  share  benefits  with  their 
workmen;  and  a  really  dangerous  trust  that  has  public 
opinion  strongly  against  it  may  form  an  alliance  with 
its  workmen,  against  the  public  at  large.  'Give  us  high 
wages  and  charge  them  to  the  public  with  a  profit  for 
yourselves,'  is  the  demand  made  by  these  laborers.  That 
an  alliance  so  made  will  last  is  not  at  all  sure.  While 
the  battle  with  the  people  is  going  on  the  corporations 
do  not  want  a  fire  in  the  rear ;  but  if  they  win  the  larger 
conflict,  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  the  companies  to 
bid  for  laborers'  support;  and  in  that  case  employees  of 
the  trust  as  well  as  the  great  remainder  of  the  working 
class  will  be  injured  by  these  considerations.  The  people 
at  large  are  and  certainly  will  continue  to  be  injured." 

The  reports  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement 
show  that  the  tactics  of  the  steel  trust  are  the  converse 
of  this.  The  strateg>  has  been  to  crush  labor  first 
under  the  weight  of  an  adverse  public  opinion.  This 
is  apparently  the  purpose  of  the  vigorous  anti-labor 
propaganda  that  has  been  carried  on  through  the  press 
during  the  last  few  years.  And  to  date  it  has  been 
relatively  successful;  we  have  all  joined  in  the  hue  and 


THE    PARADOX    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    SALVATION  12J 

cry  against  labor,  like  a  crowd  of  easily  gullible  dupes. 
While  the  battle  with  labor  is  going  on  the  corporations 
do  not  want  a  fire  in  the  rear ;  but  if  they  win  the  lesser 
conflict,  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  the  companies  to 
bid  for  the  public's  support;  and  in  that  case  the  con- 
sumers of  their  products  and  the  general  public  will  be 
injured  by  these  considerations. 

If  the  conclusions  set  forth  in  Chapter  VIII  are 
sound — that  the  polarization  of  society  is  tending  to 
eliminate  the  middle  class — then  it  follows  that  to  an 
alliance  with  labor  we  are  predestined  by  the  decrees 
of  fate,  either  voluntarily  or  by  force  of  circumstances 
over  which  we  shall  have  lost  control.  If  we  of  the 
middle  class  volunteer  promptly  enough  in  an  unselfish 
but  far-sighted  effort  to  lift  labor  to  a  creditable 
American  level,  then  the  alliance  will  be  our  alliance, 
under  our  leadership,  according  to  our  program,  and 
beneath  our  flag.  But  if  we  wait  until  we  have  been 
shaken  through  the  sieve  into  the  "proletariat,"  then 
the  flag  will  be  red,  the  leaders  radical,  and  the  program 
"Bolshevistic." 

There  is  a  certain  type  of  mind  that  can  count  as 
high  as  two,  but  a  third  alternative  presents  altogether 
too  complicated  a  situation  for  its  imagination  to  grasp. 
This  type  of  mind  brands  everybody  socialist  with 
violent  emotion,  who  finds  any  faults  with  capitalism, 
or  else  betakes  itself  to  radical  socialism  as  soon  as  it 
begins  to  get  a  little  inkling  of  the  abuses  of  modern 
capitalism.  This  type  of  mind  is  either  rabid  radical 
or  rank  reactionary :  orderly  social  progress,  based  on 
scientific  reforms  and  cultural  advancement,  is  a  third 
alternative  quite  beyond  its  purview.  But  we  of  the 
middle  class  must  all  learn  to  count  three :  plutocracy, 


128        CAUSES   AND    CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

dictatorship  of  the  "proletariat,"  or  real,  middle-class 
American  democracy — take  your  choice.  But  take  it 
quick  or  it  may  take  you!  For  sixty -five  per  cent  of 
the  voters  are  already  "proletarian,"  except  that  for- 
tunately they  lack  as  yet  the  state  of  mind. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    NEW    RIGHTS   OF    THE    PUBLIC 

THERE  is  evidence  that  the  middle  class  is 
gradually  becoming  aware  of  the  grievances  of 
which  they  are  the  innocent  victims.  Inco- 
herent and  inarticulate  as  their  class  consciousness 
is  as  yet,  there  are  indications,  nevertheless,  that  such 
a  class  consciousness  is  slowly  crystalizing.  These 
evidences  are  found  chiefly  in  the  gradually  developing 
awareness  on  the  part  of  the  neutral  public  that  it  has 
rights  which  are  being  invaded  by  the  conflict  between 
capital  and  labor.  These  newly  asserted  rights  of  the 
public  are  extremely  significant  to  the  present  argument. 
They  show  that  the  middle  class — who  make  up  the 
major  portion  of  the  public — are  spontaneously  arous- 
ing themselves  to  the  very  program  to  which  they  are 
exhorted  in  this  book,  albeit  too  unintelligently  to  get 
results. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  aspect  of  this  new 
awareness  of  rights  is  the  new  attitude  of  the  public 
toward  the  labor-capital  controversy.  As  a  result  we 
appear  to  be  entering  upon  an  entirely  new  phase  of 
that  controversy.  Hitherto  it  has  been  a  struggle 
between  two  factions  of  our  people.  The  general 
public,  until  recently,  has  played  the  part  of  neutral, 
disinterested  onlookers.  The  assumption  back  of  the 
public's  attitude  has  been   that   the  controversy  was 

129 


I3O       CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

unfortunate  for  the  belligerents,  and  a  disgrace  to  a 
Christian  civilization;  but,  farther  than  that,  a  matter 
of  practical  indifference. 

But  that  attitude  is  decidedly  changing.  We  are 
beginning  to  discover  that  the  public  is  the  victim.  A 
free-for-all  fight  cannot  go  on  in  the  streets  of  a 
crowded  city  without  innocent  bystanders  getting  hit 
with  brick-bats  and  bullets;  and  if  a  strike  or  a  lockout 
occurs  in  the  industries  of  a  complex  society  the  con- 
sumer is  always  sure  to  get  the  worst  of  it,  no  matter 
which  party  wins.  If  there  is  a  strike  in  the  coal  mines 
the  price  of  coal  goes  up  or  there  is  a  coal  famine; 
if  the  factories  of  the  wool  trust  are  locked  the  price 
of  clothing  stays  up.     The  public  always  stands  to  lose. 

The  public  is  beginning  to  assert  its  right  to  self- 
protection.  This  principle  was  brought  forcibly  to  the 
attention  of  the  public  in  the  fall  of  19 19,  when  the 
Boston  policemen  went  on  strike.  The  strike  turned 
the  streets  of  Boston  over  to  the  criminal  element, 
lawlessness  was  unrestrained,  and  the  public  suffered. 
The  reaction  of  government  and  public  opinion  was 
prompt,  vigorous  and  decisive.  The  policemen  were 
discharged  instanter,  and  order  restored.  The  whole 
country  was  electrified  over  the  incident;  Governor 
Coolidge  came  out  of  it  a  national  hero,  and  the  prece- 
dent was  established  for  good  and  all  that  policemen 
may  not  strike.  Which  means,  of  course,  that  the 
public  has  rights  that  it  does  not  propose  to  have 
jeopardized  by  any  policemen's  quibble  over  wages. 

For  the  past  three  or  four  years  a  very  active,  and 
at  times  bitter,  debate  has  been  going  on  among  public 
school  teachers  over  the  question  of  teachers'  unions. 
A   considerable  element  in  the  profession  advocates 


THE   NEW   RIGHTS   OF   THE   PUBLIC  I3I 

unionizing  under  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
They  point  to  the  low  wages  of  teachers,  insisting  that 
unionization  is  their  only  means  of  self-protection; 
and  they  enumerate  instances  in  which  teachers,  having 
appealed  patiently  to  public  opinion  without  attracting 
much  attention,  have  got  results  immediately  by  the  use 
of  an  organized  strike.  But  the  leaders  of  the  pro- 
fession are,  almost  without  exception,  opposed  to 
teachers'  unions.  The  reasons  they  give  are  not 
always  good  ones;  too  often  they  are  nothing  more 
than  ignorant  expressions  of  the  popular  prejudice 
against  organized  labor.  But  back  of  the  educators' 
bad  reasons  is  a  perfectly  sound  intuition,  namely :  that 
teachers  are  public  servants,  that  their  service  is  of 
prime  importance  to  the  public  welfare;  and  that  teach- 
ers have  no  more  right  to  go  on  strike  than  policemen 
have,  and  for  similar  reasons.  The  case,  so  far  as 
teachers  are  concerned,  is  really  this:  They,  above  all 
others,  are  the  public  servants  whose  business  it  is  to 
give  the  rising  generation  the  facts;  the  facts  about 
various  things,  including  history  and  the  present  social 
situation;  the  plain,  unbiased  facts!  On  the  basis  of 
their  knowledge  of  facts  the  rising  generation  will  come 
to  maturity  prepared  to  arbitrate  issues  and  solve  prob- 
lems. Should  the  school  fail  to  perform  this  vital 
function  for  democracy,  democracy  itself  will  be  im- 
periled. But  the  moment  teachers  take  sides  on  the 
labor-capital  controversy — the  most  vital  struggle  of 
the  age — that  moment  they  lose  their  power  to  perform 
their  function.  They  lose  the  confidence  of  the  public 
and  of  the  children,  and  they  lose  also  their  own  ability 
to  seek  the  facts  without  bias.  The  plain,  unbiased 
facts  of  social  science  are  the  last  things  in  the  world, 


132        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

it  is  true,  that  certain  sinister  influences  want  taught  in 
the  schools.  Those  sinister  interests  are  almost  certain 
to  make  a  struggle  for  the  control  of  public  instruction, 
and  the  public  should  be  on  the  alert  lest  the  freedom 
of  instruction  be  invaded  by  them.  But  meantime  the 
public  owes  its  gratitude  to  the  leaders  of  the  teaching 
profession  for  the  firm  stand  they  have  just  taken 
against  teachers'  unions.  The  profession  has  wagered 
its  faith  in  public  opinion ;  public  opinion  should  show 
itself  worthy  of  that  faith. 

The  public  has  developed  a  tendency  recently  to  re- 
gard coal-mining  also  as  a  service  to  the  public,  like 
teaching  and  police  protection.  The  public  cannot  get 
along  without  coal ;  a  coal  famine  in  winter  is  intoler- 
able ;  nor  is  the  public  willing  to  submit  to  unreasonable 
prices  when  they  result  from  a  strike.  The  general 
public  seemed  heartily  to  approve  the  action  of  the 
Attorney  General,  during  the  spring  of  1920,  in  the  use 
of  injunctions  to  break  the  coal  strike.  There  are  some 
things  to  be  said  in  criticism  both  of  the  public  and  the 
Attorney  General — they  will  be  said  later — but  the 
point  here  is  that  the  public  was  quite  unwilling  to  be 
victimized  by  a  coal  strike;  and  took,  through  the 
government,  new  and  unprecedented  measures  to  pro- 
tect its  rights. 

It  was  in  connection  with  a  strike  in  the  coal  mines 
that  a  new  compulsory  arbitration  law  was  passed  in 
Kansas,  which  has  since  attracted  national  attention 
and  much  bitter  debate  because  of  the  new  principle 
involved  in  it.  The  thing  to  get  clearly  in  mind  is 
the  new  principle,  namely :  the  right  of  the  middle  class 
public  to  be  protected  from  the  consequences  of  the 
labor-capital  controversy. 


THE   NEW    RIGHTS   OF   THE   PUBLIC  I33 

The  same  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  public  is  repre- 
sented in  the  ruthlessness  with  which  the  steel  strike 
was  suppressed  in  the  fall  of  191 9,  and  in  the  Cummins- 
Esch  law  of  the  following  February,  which  provides 
for  compulsory  arbitration  in  the  railroad  business. 
Apparently  the  public  regards  coal,  steel  and  railroad 
service  quite  as  indispensable  to  the  general  welfare  as 
teaching  and  police  protection. 

It  was  illustrated  in  a  way  during  the  summer  of 
1920,  when  the  wool  trust  shut  down  its  mills  so  as 
to  curtail  production.  The  public  saw  that  capital  as 
well  as  labor  can  be  guilty  of  sabotage ;  and  numerous 
journals  raised  the  question  whether  an  industry  has 
the  right  to  throw  workers  out  of  employment  and 
mulct  the  public  with  high  prices  by  restricting  pro- 
duction. This  was  a  new  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
public  toward  private  business.  In  essence  it  was  the 
same  as  the  public's  attitude  toward  the  striking  police- 
men. 

Now  let  us  observe  that  in  all  this  new  attitude 
toward  strikes  and  lockouts  there  is  simply  being 
applied  to  labor  disputes  an  old  principle  that  has  long 
been  recognized  in  law,  namely :  that  there  are  certain 
businesses  that  are  "affected  with  a  public  interest." 
The  railroad  business  is  the  outstanding  example. 
Rebates  and  discriminations  figured  conspicuously  in 
the  early  history  of  the  trust  movement — Rockefeller 
built  up  Standard  Oil  by  securing  rate  discriminations 
against  his  competitors.  The  Granger  legislation  of 
the  'seventies  and  'eighties  grew  out  of  the  bitter  feeling 
of  the  farmers  that  freight  rates  were  being  juggled 
to  their  disadvantage.  Serious  sectional  animosities 
were  developed  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century 


134        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

because  cities  and  localities  felt  that  they  were  being 
discriminated  against  by  the  railroads.  Finally  it 
became  clear  that  there  was  an  inherent  difference 
between  the  railroad  business  and  most  other  lines  of 
business :  the  railroad  is  at  the  center,  while  all  other 
businesses  are  around  the  circumference;  all  businesses 
have  to  use  the  railroads  as  they  do  not  have  to  use 
each  other;  the  success  of  every  business  depends  upon 
the  service  it  can  get  from  the  railroads;  fair  compe- 
tition is  impossible  unless  railroad  service  is  impartial. 
The  railroads  are  "affected  with  a  public  interest" 
As  soon  as  this  principle  became  clear  the  public, 
through  the  state,  took  upon  itself  the  responsibility 
of  regulating  freight  and  passenger  rates  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  general  public.  The  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  was  created  to  perform  this  function. 

Many  other  lines  of  business  are  "affected  with  a 
public  interest"  also,  and  are  therefore  subject  to  regu- 
lation by  law.  All.  the  public  service  utilities  of  our 
cities  are  examples.  "Innkeepers"  are  treated  by  the 
courts  as  public  servants,  stock  jugglery  is  being  regu- 
lated by  law  in  many  states,  and  an  attempt  was  recently 
made  in  Berkeley  to  have  milk  declared  a  public  utility. 

The  "police  power  of  the  state"  (which  means  the 
authority  of  government  to  pass  laws  for  the  general 
good)  has  been  growing.1  Government  control  over 
the  nation's  resources  in  land,  timber,  water-power  and 
mines,  the  Mann  Act,  the  Food  and  Drug  Act,  prohi- 
bition, the  tendency  toward  government  ownership  not 
only  of  public  service  utilities,  etc.,  but  of  ferries, 
theatres,  markets,  coal  yards,  etc.,  price  fixing,  all  forms 

1  See  A.  J.  Todd's  "The  Scientific  Spirit  in  Social  Work,"  Chap- 
ter II. 


THE    NEW    RIGHTS   OF   THE   PUBLIC  I35 

of  labor  legislation  and  social  insurance,  the  public 
supervision  of  sickness  and  disease — all  these  forms  of 
legislation,  new  during  the  last  generation  or  two,  and 
sanctioned  by  the  courts,  indicate  a  growing  tendency 
on  the  part  of  the  public  to  assert  its  rights,  as  opposed 
to  the  special  privileges  of  any  special  class. 

This  is  really  an  ancient  principle  of  the  English 
common  law.  "The  ancient  'Year  Books,'  which  con- 
tain the  earliest  record  of  court  decisions  in  England, 
reveal  to  us  that  some  centuries  ago  business  was 
generally  regarded  of  public  interest.  The  'Common 
farrier'  must  shoe  any  horse  brought  to  him;  the  'com- 
mon mill'  must  grind  everybody's  grain,  the  'common 
shaver'  must  barber  every  one."  x 

We  have  just  come  through  a  century  and  a  quarter 
of  extremely  individualistic  philosophy  in  the  fields  of 
industry  and  government.  Competition  was  supposed 
to  be  the  automatic  regulator  of  almost  everything. 
The  let-alone  policy  of  government  was  regarded  as  the 
sum  of  all  wisdom.  It  was  assumed  that  every  normal 
adult  had  more  interest  in  his  own  welfare  than  any 
"paternalistic"  government  could  possibly  have.  The 
best  guarantee  of  happiness  any  government  could  give 
a  man  was,  therefore,  to  let  him  alone,  so  long  as  he 
did  not  interfere  with  other  people's  rights.  And  so 
it  seemed  to  follow  obviously  that  the  happiest  people 
were  those  among  whom  everybody  was  looking  out 
for  number  one.  But  the  fallacy  of  that  theory  is  now 
becoming  apparent.  We  are  beginning  to  recognize 
the  solidarity  of  society :  that  no  man  liveth  unto  him- 
self, and  that  happiness  is  a  cooperative  enterprise.  In 
the  field  of  industry  we  discovered  that  some  businesses 
*Sce  Louis  Bartlett  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  Sept.,  1920. 


I36        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

were  "affected  with  a  public  interest" ;  then  we  found 
that  other  businesses  were,  too;  presently  we  shall 
realize  that  there  are  no  businesses  that  are  not.  "Wat 
has  the  government  got  wit'  dat  to  do,  anyhow?" 
remarked  the  owner  of  a  threshing  rig  in  the  wheat 
belt,  as  he  cast  a  hasty  glance  at  the  regulations  tacked 
on  his  machine  at  the  opening  of  the  season  of  191 8. 
That  is  the  old  attitude ;  but  it  is  passing  away.  The 
truth  is  that  the  farms  were  made  for  the  public,  not 
the  public  for  the  farms ;  and  what  is  true  of  the  farms 
is  true  of  all  the  industries. 

And  now,  without  clearly  reasoned  insight,  but  with 
vehement,  outraged  impulse,  the  public  is  applying  the 
same  principle  to  industrial  war.  It,  too,  is  "affected 
with  a  public  interest."  Slowly,  during  a  century  and 
a  quarter,  English  and  American  labor  has  built  up  the 
right  to  organize,  and  to  use  the  strike  as  a  means  of 
aggressive  self  defense.  Now,  all  of  a  sudden,  the 
public  seems  about  to  reach  out  its  hand  and  snatch  that 
weapon  away.  Apparently  we  have  entered  upon  a 
new  stage  of  the  labor  movement  in  which  the  strike 
is  to  be  outlawed.  It  is  really,  if  we  only  knew  it,  the 
sudden  coming  to  self  consciousness  of  the  great  middle 
class.  Tired  of  the  conflict  between  "proletariat"  at 
its  left  and  capital  at  its  right,  the  middle  class  is 
commanding  peace,  and  asserting  its  prerogative  to 
arbitrate. 

But  in  so  doing  the  middle  class  is  assuming  a  very 
grave  and  dangerous  responsibility  indeed,  and  is 
assuming  the  risk  of  precipitating  the  very  class  war 
which  it  is  so  impulsively  undertaking  to  suppress. 
For  nothing  is  ever  settled  till  it  is  settled  right;  and 
unless  the  public  is  prepared  to  hand  down  an  award 


THE    NEW   RIGHTS   OF   THE   PUBLIC  1 37 

that  is  just,  the  fat  will  surely  be  in  the  fire.     In  its 
new  attitude  toward  strikes  the  public  must  do  some- 
thing far  more  than  merely  to  indulge  its  blind  impulse 
for  self  defense;  it  is  putting  itself  under  bonds  to  mete 
out  justice  as  between  the  two  contestants,  capital  and 
labor.     Mr.  Gompers  insists  that  the  right  to  strike  is 
labor's  only  weapon,  and  to  decree  its  use  illegal — after 
the  hard  won  precedents  of  a  century — is  to  drive  the 
whole  laboring  class  into  crime.     Governor  Allen,  on 
the  other  hand,  insists  that  the  rights  of  the  whole 
people  supersede  the  rights  of  any  part  of  the  people. 
Both  are  right :  the  fallacy  of  each  is  in  failure  to  see 
the  other's  point  of  view.     Senator  Cummins  said,  in 
reporting  his  bill  out  of  the  committee :  "In  making  the 
strike  unlawful  it  is  obvious  that  there  must  be  some- 
thing given  to  the  workers  in  exchange  for  it."     If 
labor's  only  weapon  is  to  be  snatched  out  of  its  hand, 
then  justice  must  be  guaranteed  in  recompense.     If 
arbitration  is  to  be  compulsory,  it  must  be  just;  other- 
wise there  is  no  exchange — only  tyranny.     So,  in  rec- 
ognizing the  fact  that  we  are  entering  upon  a  new 
stage  in  the  labor-capital  controversy,  let  us  not  for 
a  moment  flatter  ourselves  into  the  assurance  that  it 
is  certain  to  be  a  better  stage.     It  is  just  as  likely  to  be 
one  stage  nearer  the  deluge.     For  "if  the  power  of 
government  is  to  be  used  to  check  the  rising  aspirations 
of  working  men,  if  strikes  for  improved  conditions  are 
to  be  treated  like  revolutions,  the  results  must  be  ap- 
parent to  every  thinking  man.     The  hand  of  every 
syndicalist  and  of  every  anarchist  will  be  strengthened 
by  such  a  move.     If  political  weapons  are  to  be  used 
against  industrial,  just  so  surely  will  industrial  weapons 


I38        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

be  used  against  political.  The  general  strike  for  indus- 
trial objectives  has  already  made  its  appearance  in  this 
country,  to  the  alarm  of  the  public  and  to  the  dismay 
of  (conservative)  union  leaders  everywhere.  The 
general  strike  for  political  objectives  would  be  revo- 
lution." x 

This  prediction  will  undoubtedly  come  true  unless 
the  public  demonstrates  its  ability  to  arbitrate  justly. 
Everything  depends  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  middle 
class  regarding  the  issues  it  is  undertaking  to  arbitrate, 
And  the  truth  is  that  the  middle  class  shows  very  little 
evidence  of  intelligent  comprehension  of  what  is  at 
stake  between  the  contestants.  The  whole  question  is 
whether  labor  has  a  real  or  an  imaginary  grievance. 
If  the  interpretation  of  the  case  set  forth  in  previous 
chapters  is  correct,  then  the  labor  movement  "is  not 
the  menacing  thing  that  timid  souls  fear.  ...  It  is  a 
vast  surging  forward  of  men  and  women  with  their 
eyes  fixed  on  a  better  day.  ...  It  is  a  movement  in 
which  the  finest  instincts  of  man  are  seeking  expression 
...  in  an  effort,  through  hardship  and  struggle,  to 
establish  a  society  where  want  and  misery  shall  be  no 
more."  2  It  is  a  struggle  of  the  disfranchised  masses 
against  vested  privilege,  for  the  elemental  but  as  yet 
unrecognized  rights  of  man.  Slowly  it  has  been  gain- 
ing ground  for  a  century.  Its  gains  have  been  written 
into  English  and  American  law,  constitutions  and  court 
decisions.  Labor  is  engaged  in  a  century-long  struggle 
for  the  justice  that  has  never  been  as  yet,  and  that 

1John  A.  Fitch,  in  The  American  Labor  Legislation  Review, 
March,  1920. 

a  See  the  same  article  as  above,  p.  67. 


THE    NEW    RIGHTS   OF    THE    PUBLIC  I39 

justice  is  nothing  less  than  industrial  enfranchisement 
and  a  wholesome  American  standard  of  living.  If  the 
public  understands  that  and  arbitrates  accordingly,  then 
the  Kansas  principle  will  prove  the  solution  of  our 
problem  so  far  as  labor  disputes  are  concerned;  but  if 
the  public  continues  to  believe  that  workers  are  and  of 
right  ought  to  be  poverty  stricken,  and  that  investors  are 
and  of  right  ought  to  be  permitted  to  "run  their  own 
business,"  then  the  Kansas  principle  will  only  precipi- 
tate industrial  war. 

If  we  are  to  judge  by  the  attitude  of  public  opinion 
for  a  year  after  the  Armistice,  there  is  very  little 
ground  for  hope.  Never  since  the  tide  of  abolition 
sentiment  beat  against  the  slave  holding  aristocracy  of 
the  old  South  has  there  been  such  a  display  of  truculent 
intolerance.  Scarcely  ever  has  the  middle  class  shown 
its  capacity  for  being  deceived  to  greater  discredit. 
As  soon  after  the  Civil  War  as  Grant's  first  adminis- 
tration, a  policy  of  reaction  set  in,  which  was  managed 
by  and  for  the  "infant  industries"  behind  the  scenes. 
The  public  was  not  aware  of  the  fact  then,  and  only 
penetrating  students  of  our  history  are  aware  of  it  to 
this  day.  There  are  abundant  indications  that  a  similar 
policy,  in  the  interests  of  the  invisible  plutocracy,  may 
characterize  the  present  after-war  reaction. 

The  public  was  diligently  misled  about  labor  condi- 
tions in  the  steel  and  coal  industries,  and  it  believed  the 
misrepresentations.1  The  steel  trust  still  maintains  its 
twelve-hour  shift  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  Fed- 
erated Council  of  Churches,2  vigorously  represses  labor 
organizations,   and   underpays   unskilled   labor.     The 

I  See  American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  March,  1920,  p.  62. 
See  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  May,  1920,  p.  769. 


I40        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

Interchurch  World  Movement  Survey 1  showed  that 
up.  During  the  strike,  and  even  before,  the  right  of 
assembly  was  rigorously  repressed  by  mayors  and 
burgesses  who  were  also  officers  of  the  steel  companies. 
As  for  the  coal  industry :  "The  government  knew  that 
in  coal  mining  there  is  not  enough  work  to  go  around. 
It  knew  that  unemployment  is  so  common  and  so  pro- 
tracted that  the  miners  have  great  difficulty  making  a 
living,  even  when  the  wage  rate  is  high.  If  the  govern- 
ment did  not  know  it  the  Geological  Survey  did,  and 
so  did  the  Department  of  Labor."  And  yet  public 
sentiment  was  almost  wholly  against  labor  at  the  time 
of  the  1920  strike.  This  ignorance  and  gullibility  of 
the  middle  class  is  dangerous,  and  it  is  their  bounden 
duty  to  correct  it,  especially  now  that  public  opinion 
and  law  are  assuming  the  responsibility  for  arbitrating 
labor  disputes. 

Who,  with  any  vital  faith  in  the  ideals  of  democ- 
racy and  Christianity,  can  really  doubt  that  man,  having 
conquered  nature,  will  eventually  find  a  way  to  adjust 
business  and  the  world's  work  to  the  real,  inherent, 
universal  needs  of  human  nature?  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  universal  human  welfare  is  inimical  to  nothing 
except  class  privilege  and  exploitation.  And  if  even- 
tually, why  not  now?  Simply  because  we  think  it 
impossible;  just  as  we  thought  prohibition  impossible 
a  generation  ago,  and  just  as  our  forefathers  a  hundred 
years  ago  would  have  thought  free,  universal  public 
education  impossible  and  absurd.  But  if  a  single 
generation  of  the  American  middle  class  could  all  have 

1  Every  church  member  in  America  ought  to  read  the  two 
reports  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  on  the  steel  strike 
of  1919  and  subsequent  conditions  in  the  steel  industry.  They 
are  published  by  Harcourt,  Brace  and  Co.,  New  York. 


THE   NEW   RIGHTS   OF   THE   PUBLIC  I4I 

faith  to  believe  that  a  decent  standard  of  living  for 
workers  is  both  practicable  and  desirable,  it  would  come 
to  pass  within  twenty-five  years.  Whereupon  we  should 
have  industrial  peace.  It  is  only  as  public  opinion 
sanctions  these  rights  of  the  masses,  that  the  public 
will  succeed  in  maintaining  its  own  rights,  for  there 
can  be  no  peace  for  any  of  us  except  on  the  basis  of 
justice  to  all  of  us. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  FRONTIERS  OF  DEMOCRACY 

IT  would  be  agreed  by  practically  all  scientific  stu- 
dents of  the  labor  problem  that  we  do  need  a  read- 
justment of  the  relations  between  capital  and  labor, 
especially  in  large-scale  industry.  In  this  connection 
it  is  desirable  to  see  clearly  what  the  fundamental  aims 
of  reform  in  this  field  are,  because  details  are  very 
confusing  unless  they  are  understood  in  relation  to  the 
main  issue.  What  sense  is  there,  for  instance,  in  the 
plumber  refusing  to  connect  the  gas  range;  or  what 
justice  is  there  in  the  musicians'  union  trying  to  break 
up  a  famous  symphony  orchestra  because  the  orchestra 
must  play  occasionally  for  a  municipality  that  employs 
a  non-union  band.  Lost  among  the  trees  of  such 
details,  it  is  easy  to  lose  sight  of  the  woods  as  a  whole, 
and  so  fail  utterly  to  grasp  the  fundamental  issues  of 
the  labor-capital  controversy. 

As  we  look  back  over  the  struggle  for  political 
democracy  during  the  last  five  hundred  years,  the 
fundamental  aims  of  that  struggle  stand  out  in  relief 
like  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  one  approaches  them 
across  the  plains  of  eastern  Colorado.  The  common 
people  were  seeking  political  enfranchisement.  As  the 
struggle  went  on,  outrages  and  injustices  cluttered  the 
details  on  both  sides,  but  on  the  whole  the  fundamental 

142 


THE    FRONTIERS    OF    DEMOCRACY  143 

demand  of  the  people  was  just.  Likewise  the  funda- 
mental demand  of  labor  for  industrial  enfranchisement 
is  undoubtedly  just  in  the  main,  and  should  not  be 
obscured  by  the  injustices  or  even  outrages  on  both 
sides  that  clutter  the  details  of  the  situation.  It  is 
possible  to  get  so  close  to  the  foothills  that  one  cannot 
see  the  great  peaks  at  all.  If  we  could  see  the  great 
issues  as  clearly  now  as  posterity  will  see  them  in 
retrospect  five  hundred  years  hence,  public  opinion 
would  promptly  hand  down  its  verdict  in  favor  of  the 
industrial  enfranchisement  of  labor,  and  the  quarrel 
would  soon  be  over. 

The  great  central  question  is :  Shall  labor  have  a 
potent  voice  in  the  management  of  large-scale  industry? 
Some  of  our  greatest  minds  have  seen  clearly  that  labor 
is  justified  in  demanding  that  right,  and  that  capital 
is  in  the  wrong  in  refusing  it.  Theodore  Roosevelt 
saw  it.  In  "The  Foes  of  Our  Own  Household" 
(p.   105)  he  wrote: 

"At  present  the  mass  of  people  engaged  in  industry  can- 
not become  owners  as  individuals ;  and  to  give  this  mass  a 
nominal  ownership  which  does  not  imply  control  fails  to 
reach  the  heart  of  the  matter,  for  control  is  the  element 
which  implies  equality  between  men.  .  .  .  Therefore,  in- 
stead of  individual  control  of  industry  there  must  to-day  be 
some  species  of  collective  control  of  industry ;  which  means 
that  the  tool  users  shall  become  the  tool  owners.  ..." 

"The  more  we  condemn  unadulterated  Marxian  So- 
cialism, the  stouter  should  be  our  insistence  on  thorough- 
going social  reforms."    (p.  177.) 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  omens  of  the  year 
just  past  is  the  public  espousal  of  this  principle  by 


144        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.  He  declares  *  himself  un- 
equivocally in  favor  of  "adequate  representation  of  the 
employees."  He  insists  that  the  principle,  wherever  it 
has  been  in  operation  for  any  considerable  time,  has 
shown  the  following  beneficial  results: 

"First,  more  continuous  operation  of  the  plants  and 
less  interruption  in  the  employment  of  workers,  resulting 
in  larger  returns  for  both  capital  and  labor.  Second, 
improved  working  and  living  conditions.  Third,  fre- 
quent and  close  contact  between  employees  and  officers. 
Fourth,  the  elimination  of  grievances  as  disturbing 
factors.  Fifth,  good-will  developed  to  a  high  degree. 
Sixth,  the  creation  of  a  community  spirit." 

Summing  up  his  own  views  Mr.  Rockefeller  says: 

"The  reign  of  autocracy  has  passed.  Men  are  rapidly 
coming  to  see  that  human  life  is  of  infinitely  greater 
value  than  material  wealth;  that  the  health,  happiness 
and  well-being  of  the  individual,  however  humble,  is  not 
to  be  sacrificed  to  the  selfish  aggrandizement  of  the  more 
fortunate  or  more  powerful.  .  .  . 

"What  is  the  attitude  of  the  leaders  in  industry  as 
they  face  this  critical  period  of  reconstruction?  Is  it 
that  of  the  standpatters  who  ignore  the  extraordinary 
changes  which  have  come  over  the  face  of  the  civilized 
world  and  have  taken  place  in  the  minds  of  men,  who, 
arming  themselves  to  the  teeth,  attempt  stubbornly  to 
resist  the  inevitable  and  invite  open  warfare  with  the 
other  parties  in  industry,  and  who  say :  'What  has  been 
and  is,  must  continue  to  be;  with  our  backs  to  the  wall 
we  will  fight  it  out  along  the  old  lines  or  go  down  to 
defeat?' 

"Or  is  their  attitude  one  in  which  I  myself  profoundly 

1  Published  originally  in  the  International  Labor  Review;  re- 
viewed in  The  Survey  for  August  16,  1921. 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF  DEMOCRACY  I45 

believe,  which  takes  cognizance  of  the  inherent  right 
and  justice  of  the  cooperative  principle  underlying  the 
new  order,  which  recognizes  that  mighty  changes  are  in- 
evitable, many  of  them  desirable,  and  which  does  not  wait 
until  forced  to  adopt  new  methods,  but  takes  the  lead 
in  calling  together  the  parties  to  industry  for  a  round- 
table  conference  to  be  held  in  a  spirit  of  justice,  fair  play, 
and  brotherhood,  with  a  view  to  working  out  some  plan 
of  cooperation,  which  will  ensure  to  all  those  concerned 
adequate  representation,  will  afford  to  labor  a  voice  in 
the  forming  of  industrial  policy,  and  an  opportunity  to 
earn  a  fair  wage  under  such  conditions  as  shall  leave 
time,  not  alone  for  food  and  sleep,  but  also'  for  recrea- 
tion and  the  development  of  the  higher  things  of  life?" 

Elbert  H.  Gary,  president  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation,  takes  a  different  view  of  the  matter,  how- 
ever. He  says  x :  "The  security  holders  must  be  rec- 
ognized as  rightfully  in  control.  .  .  .  They  properly 
may  and  ultimately  will  dictate  the  personnel,  the 
governing  rules,  the  policies,  sales  and  purchases,  ex- 
tensions and  improvements,  rates  of  compensation  to 
employees,  including  special  compensation  or  bonus 
appropriations  for  merit,  terms  and  conditions  of 
employment,  and  all  other  matters  pertaining  to  the 
properties  and  business  and  management  of  the  cor- 
poration. After  the  honest  fulfillment  of  all  obliga- 
tions to  others,  they  are  entitled  not  only  to  a  fair  and 
reasonable  return  on  their  investments,  but  to  all  the 
net  proceeds  of  the  business.  .  .  . 

"We  do  not  endorse  experimentation,  especially  con- 

1  "Principles  and  Policies  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corpora- 
tion" ;  a  statement  by  Elbert  H.  Gary,  Chairman,  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Stockholders,  April  18,  1921. 


I46        CAUSES    AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

cerning  workmen,  unless  it  seems  practical  and  reason- 
able. I  venture  the  individual  opinion  that  any  plan 
which  seeks  to  deprive  the  investor  of  the  control  of 
his  property  and  business  is  inimical  to  the  fundamental 
ideas  of  our  country  and  to  the  public  welfare.  Any 
step  in  this  direction  is  to  be  deplored.  Any  nation 
which  adopts  it  will  fail  to  maintain  a  leading  position 
in  industrial  proficiency  and  progress.  .  .  . 

"It  seems  to  me  that  the  natural,  if  not  the  necessary, 
result  of  the  contemplated  progress  of  labor  unions,  if 
successful,  would  be  to  secure  the  control  of  shops,  then 
of  the  general  management  of  business,  then  of  capital, 
and  finally  of  government." 

The  Report  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement 
shows  what  are  the  logical  and  inevitable  consequences 
of  the  Gary  policy.  In  the  manufacturing  branch  of 
the  steel  industry,  where  it  is  in  force,  it  meant  that 
approximately  half  the  employees  were  subjected  to  a 
twelve-hour  day,  and  approximately  one  half  of  these 
in  turn  to  a  seven-day  week x ;  that  the  annual  earnings 
of  72.  per  cent  of  the  workers  were  below  the  lowest 
standard  that  scientists  are  willing  to  term  an  American 
standard  of  living,  and  38  per  cent  of  the  workers 
earned  only  three  quarters  of  the  sum  needed  for  such 
a  standard2;  that  the  system  resulted  in  daily  griev- 
ances, for  which  there  was  no  means  of  redress  3 ;  that 
an  extremely  provocative  organization  of  private  spies 
and  detectives  was  an  integral  part  of  the  system4; 
that  the  press  was  prostituted  to  the  policy  of  deceiving 

'"The  Steel  Strike  of  1919,"  p.  II. 
'The  same,  p.  12. 

"The  same,  p.  14.  ,    ,      0      ,  „    .,     „ 

*The  same,  p.  14,  and  "Public  Opinion  and  the  Steel  Strike, 
pp.  1-86. 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  I47 

the  public  * ;  that  civil  rights  of  free  speech  and  assem- 
bly were  abrogated,  and  that  personal  rights  were  vio- 
lated by  community  and  state  authorities  who  were 
subservient  to  the  corporation.2  Such  conditions  are 
not  "permanently  satisfying  to  representative  American 
citizens."  In  view  of  the  almost  limitless  possibilities 
for  harm  that  are  involved  in  the  Gary  policy,  one  is 
reminded  of  what  used  to  be  said  about  the  Bourbon 
autocrats — that  they  never  learned  anything  and  never 
forgot  anything. 

If  the  reader  demands  positive  demonstration  that 
management  by  investor  and  worker  jointly  will  prove 
efficient,  it  has  to  be  admitted  that  the  question  is  a 
hard  one.  On  the  other  hand,  why  insist  so  religiously 
on  the  efficiency  of  investor  management?  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  efficient  is  what  it  is  not.  Authorities  3 
assert  that  monopoly  is  sufficiently  developed  in  various 
industries  so  that  customary  methods  are  entrenched, 
and  progressive  innovations  stifled.  But  the  shameful 
inefficiency  of  the  present  management  has  been  most 
mercilessly  uncovered  by  the  Federated  American 
Engineers.  Their  report  has  already  been  summarized 
(p.  92  ff,  above).  Joint  management  could  hardly  be 
worse;  there  are  reasons  to  assume  that  it  might  be 
much  better.  The  cooperative  societies  of  England  and 
Denmark  have  been  managed  by  laboring  people,  and 
they  are  among  the  largest  and  most  successful  enter- 
prises in  the  world. 

The  stock  argument  against  employees'  participation 
in  management  is  the  assertion  that  they  cannot  be 

'"Public  Opinion,"  etc.,  pp.  87-163. 

2  "The  Steel  Strike,"  p.  15;  "Public  Opinion,"  etc.,  pp.  163-223. 

3  Clark,  "The  Control  of  the  Trusts,"  p.  83  f.;  Jones,  "The 
Trust  Problem  in  the  United  States,"  pp.  530  ff. 


I48        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

trusted  with  so  much  managerial  responsibility.  A 
crowd  of  ignorant  laborers,  utterly  inexperienced  in 
management,  would  soon  run  production  into  the 
ground.  The  most  trenchant  bit  of  literature  bearing 
on  this  question  that  has  come  to  the  writer's  notice 
is  Veblen's  "The  Engineers  and  the  Price  System." 
He  diverts  attention  from  the  mass  of  unskilled  labor- 
ers to  the  small  group  of  highly  trained  experts, 
technicians  and  engineers.  "Without  them  and  their 
constant  attention  the  industrial  equipment,  the  me- 
chanical appliances  of  industry,  would  foot  up  to  just 
so  much  junk."  "These  expert  men,  technologists, 
engineers,  or  whatever  name  may  best  suit  them,  make 
up  the  indispensable  General  Staff  of  the  industrial 
system."  These  hired  men  actually  are  the  managers 
of  industry,  on  the  production  side,  even  now.  Veblen 
asserts  that  the  organized  engineers,  representing 
labor,  are  entirely  capable  of  managing  industry  with- 
out the  financial  supervision  of  "absentee  owners,"  rep- 
resented by  "syndicated  investment  bankers."  Indeed, 
he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  contend  that  such  supervision 
is  an  actual  hindrance  to  production  by  the  engineers, 
and  therefore  an  expensive  nuisance  to  the  consuming 
public.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  public  interests, 
he  argues  that  our  industries  would  be  better  managed 
for  us  by  the  engineers  than  by  the  financiers.  The 
suggestion  is  novel,  and  worthy  of  consideration,  to 
say  the  least.  The  force  of  Veblen's  argument  can,  of 
course,  be  appreciated  only  by  devoting  a  sitting  to  his 
piquant  and  very  witty  little  book.  If  his  arguments 
are  sound,  it  is  not  production,  but  profiteering,  that 
would  be  run  into  the  ground  by  industrial  democracy ; 
and  that  is  the  pith  of  the  objection  to  it. 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  I49 

A  great  many  firms  are  practicing  arrangements 
which  they  advertise  as  employees'  participation  in 
management.  Some  of  these — as,  for  example,  the 
Goodyear  plan — have  acquired  a  considerable  reputation 
for  their  success.  From  these  ventures  many  middle 
class  business  men  have  inferred  that  capital  has  already 
met  labor  more  than  half  way,  and  that  joint  manage- 
ment is  already  an  assured  success.  But  such  infer- 
ences are  too  hasty.  Without  impeaching  the  sincerity 
of  the  Goodyear  or  other  similar  plans,  it  may  be  well 
to  quote  what  Royal  Meeker,  the  leading  American 
authority  on  this  subject,  said  before  the  American 
Economic  Association1  in  1920: 

"Of  all  the  many  hundreds  of  systems  of  'industrial 
democracy'  which  I  have  studied,  very  few  give  promise 
of  accomplishing  much  in  the  way  of  winning  the 
enthusiastic  support  of  the  workers,  because  little,  if 
any,  additional  authority  over  or  responsibility  for 
methods  and  results  is  accorded  them.  In  the  great 
majority  of  plans,  the  workers  are  permitted  only  to 
participate  in  managing,  under  safeguards  and  direc- 
tion or  at  least  suggestion  from  above,  matters  of 
safety,  sanitation,  benefit  funds,  and  other  'welfare' 
activities.  No  eager,  enthusiastic  response  from  the 
workers  can  be  expected  from  such  ultra-conservative 
adventures  in  industrial  radicalism.  I  do  not  mean 
that  these  plans  are,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
insincere  schemes  intended  to  deceive  the  worker  into 
thinking  he  is  being  taken  into  partnership  when  he  is 
really  only  being  'taken  in.'  Nothing  of  the  sort. 
I  think  employers  in  general  sincerely  desire  to  make 

1  See  American  Economic  Review,  Supplement,  1920,  pp.  89  ff. 


I50        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

concessions  to  labor.  Of  course,  they  want  to  concede 
as  little  as  is  absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  those  radical  things  with  the  fearsome  Russian 
names.  Perhaps  as  time  goes  by  the  workers  will  be 
given  the  opportunity  to  demonstrate  that  they  are 
worthy  of  greater  responsibilities  and  capable  of  more 
constructive  contributions  to  industrial  management. 
None  of  the  shop  committees  and  works  councils  has 
been  operating  long  enough  to  warrant  generalizations 
about  future  developments. 

"As  a  worker  and  a  student  I  feel  that  there  is  a 
tremendous  latent  creative  force  in  the  workers  of 
to-day  which  is  not  being  utilized  at  all.  This  force 
may  be  likened  to  the  force  of  the  waves  and  the  tides 
of  the  ocean.  No  engineer  has  as  yet  been  able  to 
devise  a  practical  method  for  utilizing  the  giant  strength 
of  the  sea;  but  every  industrial  engineer  with  any 
imagination  whatsoever  dreams  of  the  day  when  this 
giant  will  be  harnessed  and  made  to  do  the  work  of 
the  world.  Perhaps  it  is  not  and  never  will  be  eco- 
nomically feasible  to  harness  the  sea.  It  is  likewise 
possible  that  human  nature  is  fundamentally  so  consti- 
tuted that  it  never  will  be  practicable  to  utilize  the 
good  will,  enthusiasm,  and  creative  power  of  the 
workers — to  substitute  leadership  for  drivership  in 
industry.  It  may  be  that  industrial  peace  on  earth  is 
unattainable,  and  that  industrial  war  is  the  natural 
state  of  man;  but  I  do  not  believe  it.  Anyhow,  it  is 
worth  a  thorough  trial  in  order  to  find  out  whether  the 
workers,  if  given  responsibility  in  industrial  manage- 
ment, will  become  so  interested  in  their  work  that  they 
won't  have  time  to  be  restless." 

As  this  book  goes  through  the  proof  reading  an 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  151 

article  appears  in  the  February,  1922,  Atlantic,  sub- 
titled :  "A  Way  Out  for  Labor  and  Capital."  Accord- 
ing to  this  writer  the  way  out  is  voluntary  fairness  on 
the  part  of  the  employer. 

"The  underlying  principle  of  the  relationship  under 
discussion  is  that  the  employer  shall  not  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  thus  given  to  him.  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  based  upon  the  fact  that,  at  any  time,  for  any  com- 
pany, there  is  a  fair  wage  that  can  be  paid.  The  condi- 
tions in  the  company,  in  the  industry,  and  general  busi- 
ness conditions,  determine  this.  Sometimes  it  is  higher, 
sometimes  lower ;  but  whatever  it  is,  it  is  not  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  amount  at  which  men  would  rather  work 
than  be  out  of  employment.  Likewise,  this  is  equally  true 
of  hours  of  labor  and  of  other  conditions  of  work.  What 
this  wage  is,  what  these  hours  are,  what  these  conditions 
of  employment  are — these  are  questions  of  fact,  to  be 
determined  as  such." 

It  is  stated  that  the  question  of  what  fair  wages 
and  conditions  actually  are  may  be  determined  in  vari- 
ous ways.  Several  concerns  in  which  this  principle  is 
in  use  are  described,  but  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of 
New  Jersey  receives  special  attention.  In  this  com- 
pany 

"All  questions  affecting  wages,  hours  and  working  condi- 
tions have  been  determined  by  conferences  between  rep- 
resentatives of  the  company  and  representatives  of  the 
employees.  *  *  *  The  Board  of  Directors  is  the  final 
authority ;  but  in  actual  practice  these  matters  are  settled 
in  joint  conference. 

"It  is  by  no  means  essential,  however,  that  the  method 
be  democratic.  Just  as  sometimes  in  political  life  an  able 
and   benevolent   monarch    furnishes  a   highly   successful 


152        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

government,  so  in  industry  the  officers  of  a  company  can 
actually  determine  from  time  to  time  what  are  fair  wages, 
hours,  and  working  conditions,  with  no  more  than  in- 
formal contact  with  employees." 

The  writer  claims  various  advantages  for  this  adjust- 
ment, among  the  rest  that  it  greatly  increases  the  effi- 
ciency and  productiveness  of  the  workers.  Its  success 
is  demonstrated,  he  asserts,  by  the  practice  of  numerous 
firms  which  he  enumerates  and  describes  in  some  detail. 

The  prominence  given  to  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
of  New  Jersey  in  this  article  suggests  the  pronounce- 
ment by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  earlier  in  this  chap- 
ter. Let  us  accord  absolute  sincerity  to  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller's statement  of  his  industrial  creed,  and  to  any 
attempts  to  work  it  out  in  practice.  As  is  stated  in  a 
later  chapter  of  this  book,  why  may  we  not  believe  that 
Christian  ideals  are  at  last  actually  to  produce  Christian 
business  men?  Could  a  greater  boon  befall  the  twen- 
tieth century  than  for  a  few  of  its  leading  generals  of 
industry  actually  to  work  out  industrial  justice  volun- 
tarily ? 

Nevertheless,  the  experiences  of  history  make  it 
excusable  on  our  part  if  we  are  wary  of  carrying  all 
our  eggs  to  market  in  that  one  basket.  Benevolent 
despotisms  fall  somewhat  short  of  commanding  our 
entire  confidence.  The  term  unavoidably  suggests  its 
most  shining  example  in  political  history — the  Hohen- 
zollern  dynasty !  The  same  succession  that  is  blessed 
with  an  Augustus  or  a  Marcus  Aurelius  is  too  apt  to 
be  cursed  with  a  Nero  or  a  Caligula.  If  the  benevolent 
despots  of  modern  industry  really  do  aspire  to  give  us 
a  better  world  through  their  voluntary  benevolence  we 
are  willing,  indeed  gratefully  anxious,   for  them  to 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF  DEMOCRACY  1 53 

demonstrate.  But  the  earnest  of  their  benevolence 
which  will  bow  our  hearts  in  an  ultimate  act  of  faith 
will  be  when  they  abdicate  "the  final  authority  of  the 
board  of  directors."  But  even  to  this  we  are  willing 
to  accept  a  gradual  preparation  and  approach,  if  only 
we  can  be  assured  that  an  approach  it  really  is,  and 
that  it  will  be  consummated  eventually.  Then  we  shall 
be  assured  that  they,  like  their  avowed  Master,  are  not 
afraid  to  commit  themselves  to  their  own  creed.  Mean- 
time, do  we  not  well  know  that  the  cup  of  responsibility 
which  this  fateful  century  is  pressing  to  their  Lillipu- 
tian lips  would  be  far  too  great  for  us  to  drink  from 
if  it  were  pressed  to  ours  instead. 

So  far  in  this  discussion  reference  has  been  made 
only  to  the  suggestions  of  capital  for  solving  the  prob- 
lem of  industrial  democracy.  But  labor  has  sugges- 
tions also ;  and  is  there  any  more  inherent  presumption 
in  their  making  suggestions  than  there  is  in  capital's 
doing  so?  The  proposal  of  labor  is  collective  bargain- 
ing through  the  unions.  For  more  than  a  century 
they  have  been  slowly  building  up  their  unions  with 
that  single  objective  in  view.  And  they  are  not  likely 
to  abandon  their  aims. 

There  seem  to  be  relatively  few  middle  class  citizens 
who  understand  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  labor 
movement.  Minor  or  quite  irrelevant  details  get  into 
the  focus  of  their  attention,  and  central  issues  are  lost 
sight  of  altogether.  One  is  reminded  of  a  certain 
patient  who,  according  to  the  doctor's  diagnosis,  was 
suffering  from  arteriosclerosis,  pulmonary  tuberculosis 
and  pediculosis  capitis.  Neither  the  patient  nor  his 
family  could  be  induced  to  take  the  slightest  interest 


154        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

in  the  arteriosclerosis  nor  the  pulmonary  tuberculosis; 
but  both  he  and  they  were  violently  concerned  about 
the  pediculosis  capitis.  That  was  what  itched !  Most 
of  us  are  similarly  intelligent  about  the  relative  im- 
portance of  things  in  the  labor  movement. 

A  certain  firm  recently  advertised  for  fifty  men. 
The  next  morning  at  the  specified  hour  2,000  were 
crowded  around  the  entrance  to  their  plant.  The  com- 
pany took  a  picture  of  the  crowd  and  hung  copies  of 
it  about  their  shops.  The  disciplinary  effect  was 
magical. 

The  case  was  typical,  though  somewhat  exaggerated, 
due  to  a  business  depression  at  the  time.  There  is  al- 
ways a  crowd  of  hungry  out-of-works  on  the  outside. 
That  hungry  crowd  of  out-of-works  is  the  most  sig- 
nificant causal  fact  in  the  whole  situation.  It  is  their 
existence  that  strikes  fear  to  the  heart  of  the  employed 
worker  inside.  He  is  in  constant  danger  of  losing  his 
job  to  one  of  them.  He  dare  not  ask  too  high  a 
wage  lest  one  of  them  underbid  him  and  get  his  job 
away.  For  him,  as  well  as  for  themselves,  that  crowd 
outside  keeps  wages  down  to  the  Ricardian  level. 

To  the  employer,  on  the  other  hand,  their  presence 
outside  is  a  bonanza,  a  justification  for  quiet  sleep,  and 
a  means  of  thick  beefsteaks. 

The  dearest  wish  of  the  laborer  on  the  inside  is  to 
be  rid  of  the  menace  of  that  crowd  on  the  outside.  If 
he  could  only  get  them  all  into  his  union,  and  get  their 
pledge  not  to  put  in  a  bid  for  his  job,  he  would  make 
almost  any  compromise  with  them.  He  would  soldier 
on  his  job  so  as  to  make  two  jobs  grow  where  but  one 
had  grown  before,  so  that  there  would  be  jobs  enough 
for  him  and  them,  and  at  a  price  agreed  upon  by  all 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  155 

of  them.  That  would  be  incomparably  better,  he 
thinks,  than  for  them  to  be  bidding  down  the  price 
of  both  his  job  and  theirs. 

But  he  never  gets  them  all  into  his  union,  so  per- 
versely blind  are  they  to  the  mutuality  of  their  inter- 
ests and  his. 

But  whenever  his  boss  ventures  to  employ  one  of 
them  (except  on  terms  approved  by  his  union)  he 
makes  the  boss  trouble  if  he  dares.  Often  he  goes 
on  strike  to  enforce  "recognition  of  the  union,"  which 
means  to  compel  his  boss  to  have  no  dealings  with 
that  crowd  outside. 

It  is  when  he  goes  on  strike  that  they  worry  him 
the  most,  however,  for  then  they  are  liable  to  sneak 
in  and  take  his  job,  and  at  any  poor  price.  So  he 
stands  around  the  gate  and  "pickets."  If  they  persist 
on  going  in  to  get  his  job,  he,  as  likely  as  not,  loses 
his  head  and  throws  brickbats  at  them;  which  brick- 
bats are  in  danger  of  going  through  the  adjacent  win- 
dow, thus  invading  the  rights  of  property.  He  may 
even  go  so  far  as  to  call  them  "scabs."  If  he  could 
only  keep  them  away — i.  e.,  maintain  a  "closed  shop" — 
his  employer  would  soon  have  to  call  him  back  on 
terms  of  his  own  dictating;  and  then  he,  the  laborer, 
would  have  a  voice  in  the  management  of  the  industry 
and  in  the  division  of  the  profits.  But,  alas,  he  is 
prevented  by  that  hungry  crowd  of  out-of-works 
outside. 

To  the  employer  the  right  of  that  crowd  outside  to 
sell  their  labor  to  whomever  they  please  (that  is  to 
him)  is  in  his  conscience  like  the  apple  of  an  eye.  He 
gets  our  country's  militia  called  out  to  open  the  way 
through  the  pickets  so  the  crowd  outside  can  come 


I56        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

in  where  the  jobs  are  to  which  they  have  a  right. 
Sometimes  he  boards  the  militia  himself.  Usually  the 
militia  is  instructed  not  to  shoot  unless  it  is  necessary. 
Or  better  still  he  gets  the  courts  to  declare  picketing 
illegal,  or  to  reduce  the  number  of  legal  pickets  to  one 
per  entrance.  If  the  President  calls  him  into  confer- 
ence with  labor  and  the  public  over  the  issue,  he  bolts 
the  conference  with  the  august  ultimatum  that  it  is  a 
principle  for  which  he  stands,  namely,  the  right  of  that 
crowd  out  there  to  sell  their  labor  to  anybody  that  will 
buy  it,  at  any  price  they  can  get. 

The  strength  or  weakness  of  collective  bargaining 
depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  success  or  lack  of  it 
with  which  the  labor  unions  can  maintain  the  closed 
shop.  A  drive  for  the  open  shop  is  a  drive  at  the  very 
heart  of  collective  bargaining.  Labor  wants  the  closed 
shop  so  as  to  enjoy  industrial  enfranchisement;  capital 
wants  the  open  shop  so  as  to  perpetuate  industrial  dis- 
franchisement. Collective  bargaining  is  labor's  pro- 
posal for  making  industrial  democracy  real ;  capital  op- 
poses it  because  reality  is  precisely  what  it  will  con- 
tribute to  industrial  democracy. 

Meantime  we  of  the  middle  class  sputter  against 
labor  because  a  plumber  declines  to  connect  the  gas 
range,  or  a  carpenter  and  his  helper  sit  and  wait  while 
an  electrician  and  his  helper  screw  in  a  dozen  electric 
light  bulbs.  And  meantime  also  labor  makes  the  ir- 
reparable blunder  of  exasperating  the  prejudices  and 
flaunting  the  misunderstandings  of  the  public. 

Collective  bargaining  may  not  prove  to  be  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem ;  but  it  is  labor's  insistent  proposal 
the  world  over;  and  certainly  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
time  is  now  here  when  the  public  should  form  a  more 
intelligent  judgment  than  ever  before  as  to  its  merits. 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  1 57 

As  for  us  of  the  middle  class,  if  we  do  not  wish  this 
war  over  the  principle  of  collective  bargaining  to  con- 
tinue we  must  devise  and  enforce  some  better  method 
of  industrial  democracy.  But  let  us  not  deceive  our- 
selves into  imagining  that  the  industrial  disfranchise- 
ment of  the  workers  can  go  unremedied.  There  are 
too  many  of  them,  and  they  are  too  thoroughly  in- 
doctrinated with  the  ideals  of  democracy. 

Industrial  disfranchisement  is  an  ugly  word.  Blown 
upon  by  the  hot  breath  of  democratic  ideals,  can  we 
doubt  that  it  will  continue  to  give  off  the  gray  vapors 
of  social  discontent?  The  industrial  enfranchisement 
of  labor  is  the  most  fundamental  of  all  the  reforms 
needed.  It  lies  closest  to  the  heart  of  the  social  unrest. 
If  the  central  word  of  this  whole  book  is  desired,  we 
are  now  ready  to  pronounce  it.  It  is :  Faith !  Faith 
in  the  feasibility  of  industrial  democracy.  As  an  in- 
ference from  our  faith  in  political  democracy  and  the 
Christian  ideals  of  human  life,  Mr.  Gary  simply  must 
be  wrong.  If  the  reader  has  faith  in  democracy  and 
Christianity  at  all,  how  can  he  doubt  that  the  nation 
which  is  first  to  enfranchise  its  working  people  indus- 
trially will  assuredly  gain  a  great  initial  advantage  in 
world  competition,  just  as  did  those  nations  that  were 
first  to  enfranchise  their  common  people  politically. 
Especially  if  industrial  enfranchisement  is  promptly 
accompanied  with  industrial  education. 

We  often  hear  it  remarked,  with  an  air  of  absolute 
finality,  that  there  are  always  two  sides  to  every  ques- 
tion. But  in  the  perspective  of  history  a  shadow  of 
doubt  falls  upon  this  old  saw.  When  the  Children  of 
Israel,  oppressed  under  the  heel  of  Pharaoh,  cried  unto 
Jehovah  in  their  despair,  and  Moses  led  them  out 
across  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  wilderness,  there  were  two 


I58        CAUSES   AND   CURES   EOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

sides  to  the  question.  When  Spartacus  with  his  gladi- 
ators, in  the  days  of  Pompey,  were  hunted  down  like 
beasts  till  6,000  of  their  bodies,  borne  aloft  on  crosses, 
lined  the  Appian  Way,  a  warning  to  all  other  slaves 
who  should  dare  to  strike  for  freedom,  there  were  two 
sides  to  the  question.  When  the  Paris  mob,  after  a 
century  and  a  half  of  Bourbon  autocracy,  surged  out 
of  Paris  and  stormed  the  Bastile,  there  were  two  sides 
to  the  question.  When,  as  a  protest  against  political 
disfranchisement,  the  Bostonians  dumped  the  tea  into 
Boston  Harbor,  John  Hancock  and  his  associates  risked 
their  signatures  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  Washington  with  his  bleeding  little  army  struggled 
through  from  Valley  Forge  to  Yorktown,  there  were 
two  sides  to  the  question.  There  always  are  two  sides 
to  every  question!  Are  there  not?  But  it  is  always 
the  contemporaries,  unfortunately,  who  are  least  capable 
of  seeing  which  side  is  which.  Strange  how  gener- 
ously our  sympathies  go  out  to  the  poor  and  oppressed 
in  all  periods  of  history,  except,  forsooth,  the  only 
period  in  which  there  is  the  slightest  chance  to  make 
our  sympathies  count  for  anything. 

Of  course  there  really  are  faults  on  both  sides,  just 
as  there  are  in  all  wars.  We  are  even  now  beginning 
to  realize  that  the  policy  of  the  German  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment was  not  the  only  cause  of  the  Great  War. 
There  was  also  the  policy  of  British  capitalism !  We 
are  even  beginning  to  wonder  whether  the  "Huns" 
were  the  only  ones  guilty  of  atrocities.  The  Civil 
War  has  now  receded  far  enough  into  the  past  so  that 
we  are  able  to  see  that  there  were  faults  on  each  side, 
both  as  to  its  causes  and  its  conduct.  And  so  there 
are  in  this  labor-capital  controversy.  Labor,  on  ac- 
count of  its  guerrilla  tactics  and  its  inexcusable  outrages 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   DEMOCRACY  1 59 

against  certain  fundamental  moral  principles,  has 
justly  forfeited  much  of  the  good  will  of  the  public. 
Nor  has  capital  been  innocent  either. 

Nevertheless,  the  fact  remains  that  Germany  was 
wrong  in  her  reversion  to  political  autocracy,  but  the 
Allies  were  right  in  their  stand  for  democracy.  To 
make  the  world  safe  for  democracy  is  what  we  really 
were  fighting  for;  as  we  should  now  realize  if  Ger- 
many had  won  and  we  had  lost  our  aims.  The  South 
was  wrong  in  her  defense  of  slavery  and  state  sover- 
eignty, as  its  enlightened  men  and  women  now  realize ; 
and  the  North  was  right.  It  is  fortunate  for  America 
and  the  world  that  the  right  won.  And  so  it  is  in  the 
war  between  capital  and  labor.  Labor  is  right  in  its 
demand  for  industrial  enfranchisement;  and  capital  is 
wrong  in  opposing  it.  Compared  with  that  nothing 
else  really  counts  to  speak  of.  Posterity  will  see  that 
as  clearly  as  the  summer  tourist  at  Colorado  Springs 
sees  the  snow-capped  summit  of  Pike's  Peak  above 
every  other  object  in  the  region.  If  we  could  all  see 
it  now,  a  public  opinion  would  formulate  itself  that 
would  coerce  a  just  and  stable  settlement  without  a 
fight.  That  is  what  our  fathers  ought  to  have  been 
able  to  do  in  the  case  of  the  Civil  War.  Why  are  we 
so  perversely  blind  as  to  go  on  forever  glorifying  war 
for  settling  issues  that  men  ought  to  be  able  to  settle 
without  war?  When  are  we  ever  to  begin  using  a 
new  method?  Never,  till  we  develop  the  insight  to 
discern  the  merits  of  an  issue  while  we  are  still  in  the 
midst  of  it.  Therein  is  the  folly  and  danger  of  this 
owl-wise  foolishness  to  the  effect  that  "there  are  al- 
ways two  sides  to  every  question."  There  often  are : 
the  right  side  and  the  wrong  side ! 


CHAPTER  XII 

SOME  NECESSARY  ECONOMIC  REFORMS 

THE  central  problem  of  the  present  crisis  is  that 
of  devising  a  mechanism  for  industrial  democ- 
racy. But  many  other  reforms  are  necessary 
also.  Socialism  proposes  one  single,  great,  and  all- 
inclusive  reform  as  a  panacea  for  the  ills  of  the  pres- 
ent social  crisis.  The  ear-mark  of  quackery  is  that 
it  is  always  strong  in  cure-alls.  But  science  has  no 
faith  in  panaceas;  it  depends  upon  specifics  instead. 
Socialism  appeals  to  ignorant  persons  for  the  same 
reasons  that  patent  medicines  do :  the  formula  is  simple, 
it  sounds  as  if  it  would  be  pleasant  to  take,  and  it 
promises  to  cure  everything.  But  the  social  organism 
is  quite  as  intricate  as  the  human  body  and  subject  to 
as  many  different  sorts  of  ills.  At  present  it  is  suffer- 
ing from  a  complication  of  disorders ;  for  which  num- 
erous specifics  are  needed.  It  is  far  outside  the  scope 
of  this  book  to  make  an  exhaustive  diagnosis  of  our 
social  disorders  or  to  prescribe  a  complete  course  of 
treatment.  That  would  be  only  less  presumptuous  than 
socialism.  Only  a  few  of  the  most  obviously  needed 
reforms  will  be  suggested  here.  For  anything  ap- 
proaching completeness  or  finality  we  must  wait  upon 
the  advancement  and  popularization  of  social  science. 

1 60 


SOME   NECESSARY   ECONOMIC   REFORMS  l6l 

First:  Taxes.  There  is  scarcely  any  public  prob- 
lem that  is  causing  more  discussion  at  the  present  time 
than  taxation.  It  is  almost  universally  agreed  that  our 
tax  system  needs  reforming.  But  no  problem  is  more 
difficult  of  solution  in  practice,  for  two  reasons :  it  re- 
quires the  profoundest  scientific  insight  to  foresee  what 
the  incidence  of  a  specific  tax  measure  will  be;  and, 
second,  selfishness  is  so  rampant  that  a  just  solution  is 
almost  too  much  to  hope  for. 

But  it  is  with  respect  to  the  fundamental  aims  of 
taxation  that  we  need  to  clarify  our  vision.  In  the 
past  the  aim  of  taxation  has  been  single — at  least  as 
set  forth  in  the  treatises  on  the  subject — namely,  to 
collect  funds  for  the  support  of  government.  In  view 
of  the  enormous  and  anti-social  concentration  of  wealth 
that  has  developed  since,  and  because  of,  the  Industrial 
Revolution,  it  would  seem  that  we  might  add  a  second 
purpose  to  taxation,  namely:  to  restore  a  wholesome 
equilibrium.  Taxation  can  be  used  as  a  means  of  re- 
diffusing  the  wealth  of  the  community ;  and  why  should 
it  not? 

As  a  matter  of  fact  taxation  always  has  been  a  factor 
in  the  distribution  of  wealth.  In  all  periods  of  history 
we  see  certain  privileged  patricians  waxing  fat  as  a 
direct  or  indirect  result  of  the  tax  system,  while  the 
noses  of  the  plebeian  masses  were  being  held  ruthlessly 
to  the  tax-gatherer's  grindstone.  Governments  have 
been  undermined  by  this  abuse.  Our  own  federal  tax 
system,  for  a  generation  following  the  Civil  War,  is 
recognized  by  authorities  *  in  economics  to  have  been 
an  important  factor  in  the  concentration  of  wealth  in 
1  See  Ely,  "Monopolies  and  Trusts,"  p.  254. 


l62        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

the  United  States.  This  is  a  subject  that  merits  very 
curious  and  diligent  study  on  the  part  of  all  middle 
class  tax  payers.  It  is  a  much  neglected  chapter  in 
our  national  history.  If  we  have  got  wealth  piled  up 
too  high  in  some  spots  for  the  general  good,  as  a  result 
partly  of  taxation,  why  should  we  not  correct  the  defect 
by  the  same  device? 

Instances  are  rare  in  history  of  civilizations  declining 
because  the  richest  two  per  cent  were  deprived  of  their 
motive  for  productive  enterprise  by  reason  of  an  extra 
heavy  tax  burden,  the  proceeds  of  which  were  used  to 
promote  the  health  and  education  of  the  ignorant  and 
depraved  masses  at  the  bottom. 

The  reason  why  taxation  has  frequently  concentrated 
wealth  sometimes  appears  incidentally  between  the  lines 
of  the  most  authoritative  and  conservative  writers. 
Here  is  a  quotation  from  Daniels'  "Public  Finance," 
the  quotation  within  the  quotation  being  from  H.  C. 
Adams.     It  reads : 

"Lastly,  the  universality  of  public  credit  must  be  reck- 
oned among  the  noteworthy  attributes  of  the  financial 
constitution  of  to-day.  The  significance  of  the  late  rise 
of  public  credit  and  of  its  extension  parallel  with  the 
growth  of  the  political  power  of  the  propertied  classes 
consists  in  the  fact  that  'when  property  owners  lend  to 
the  government  they  lend  to  a  corporation  controlled  by 
themselves.'  Public  debts  are  in  reality  mortgages  upon 
all  the  industries  under  the  taxing  power  of  the  debtor 
government.  The  interest  on  these  debts  ordinarily  can 
be  paid  only  by  taxation.  Some  substantial  security 
against  repudiation  is  a  condition  necessarily  precedent 
to  the  employment  of  public  credit;  and  this  security 
originated   and   consists   in  the  political   power   of   the 


SOME   NECESSARY   ECONOMIC   REFORMS  1 63 

propertied  classes.     Hence  the  origin  of  this  last  char- 
acteristic of  modern  public  finance." 

Why  should  not  this  quotation  suggest  to  the  middle 
class  that  conditions  are  ripe  for  us  to  assume  the 
control  of  taxation? 

For  the  purpose  of  lopping  the  tops  off*  from  unduly 
tall  fortunes  it  would  seem  that  the  inheritance  tax  is 
the  most  promising  instrument.  If  a  man  has  accu- 
mulated an  estate  of  some  hundreds  of  millions,  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  how  his  productive  efficiency  could  be 
discouraged  by  the  prospect  of  bequeathing  part  of  it 
to  the  public  instead  of  to  his  sons  and  sons-in-law ; 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  young  men's  productive 
efficiency  might  be  increased  by  a  rather  severe  dose 
of  such  medicine.  The  danger  of  "killing  the  goose 
that  lays  the  golden  Qgg"  is  least  in  the  case  of  in- 
heritance taxes.  That  phrase  is  a  great  favorite  with 
those  whom  Daniels  calls  "the  propertied  classes."  But 
it  would  seem  proper  for  us  of  the  middle  classes  to 
become  quite  as  much  interested  in  cooking  the  eggs 
that  hatch  the  golden  geese. 

This  may  sound  "radical"  to  some;  and  yet  the  plan 
was  proposed  years  ago  by  one  of  our  "captains  of 
industry,"  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie.     He  said: 

"The  growing  disposition  to  tax  more  and  more 
heavily  large  estates  left  at  death  is  a  cheering  indication 
of  the  growth  of  a  salutary  change  in  public  opinion. 
.  .  .  The  budget  presented  in  the  British  Parliament  the 
other  day  proposed  to  increase  the  death  duties ;  and, 
most  significant  of  all,  the  new  tax  is  to  be  a  graduated 
one.  Of  all  forms  of  taxation  this  seems  the  wisest. 
Men  who  continue  hoarding  great  sums  all  their  lives, 


164        CAUSES  AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

the  proper  use  of  which  for  public  ends  would  work 
good  to  the  community  from  which  it  chiefly  came,  should 
be  made  to  feel  that  the  community,  in  the  form  of  the 
State,  cannot  thus  be  deprived  of  its  proper  share.  By 
taxing  estates  heavily  at  death  the  State  marks  its  con- 
demnation of  the  selfish  millionaire's  unworthy  life."1 

And  again: 

"By  taxing  estates  heavily  at  death,  the  State  marks 
its  condemnation  of  the  selfish  millionaire's  unworthy 
life.  It  is  desirable  that  nations  should  go  much  farther 
in  this  direction."  2 

And  still  again: 

"The  Almighty  Dollar  bequeathed  to  children  is  an  'al- 
mighty curse.'  No  man  has  a  right  to  handicap  his  son 
with  such  a  burden  as  great  wealth."  3 

Inheritance  is  a  right  maintained  by  the  state ;  other- 
wise it  could  not  exist;  the  state  may  modify  it  for  the 
general  good;  in  fact,  is  morally  obligated  to  do  so. 
Inheritance  taxes  are  not  a  hardship,  because  they  can 
be  foreseen.  No  doubt  society  ought  to  be  conserva- 
tive and  cautious  about  limiting  the  amount  of  property 
a  man  may  legally  accumulate.  There  is  some  corre- 
lation between  making  money  and  benefiting  the  com- 
munity. But  there  is  growing  up  a  very  considerable 
intelligent  sentiment  in  favor  of  limiting  quite  rigor- 
ously the  amount  of  wealth  a  man  may  bequeath. 

The  purpose  of  inheritance  is  to  insure  opportunity 

'Quoted  in  H.   E.  Read's  "Abolition  of   Inheritance,"   N.  Y., 
1918,  p.  173. 
2  Andrew  Carnegie  in  North  American  Review,  Vol.  148,  p.  659. 
'Andrew  Carnegie  in  "The  Gospel  of  Wealth." 


SOME    NECESSARY   ECONOMIC    REFORMS  165 

and  protection  to  one's  offspring.  But  it  is  entirely 
conceivable  that  opportunity  and  protection  can  be  bet- 
ter secured  in  some  other  way  than  by  private  inher- 
itance. Education  is  really  a  kind  of  inheritance;  by 
it  the  young  come  into  possession  of  the  accumulated 
knowledge  and  culture  of  the  past  generation.  That 
kind  of  inheritance  used  to  be  left  to  the  family,  just 
as  property  inheritance  still  is.  In  the  olden  days  there 
were  no  public  schools;  it  was  a  private  tutor  or  no 
tutor  at  all,  a  private  school  or  no  school  at  all.  But 
now  the  government  has  taken  over  the  responsibility 
of  educating  the  young  and  sees  to  it  that  the  heritage 
of  knowledge  and  culture  is  passed  on  to  all  in  pro- 
portion to  their  ability  to  utilize  it.  The  inheritance 
of  wealth  is  a  means,  not  an  end.  Its  object  is  not  to 
relieve  young  people  of  the  necessity  of  being  useful, 
but  to  insure  every  young  person  a  fair  opportunity  of 
becoming  useful.  And  for  that  purpose  public  in- 
heritance may  prove  to  be  quite  as  equitable  and  effec- 
tive as  private  inheritance.  The  purpose  of  material 
inheritance,  like  cultural  inheritance  (i.e.,  education), 
is  to  insure  opportunity  and  protection  to  children. 
In  the  olden  days  both  were  responsibilities  of  the 
family.  The  nineteenth  century  saw  the  transference 
of  that  responsibility,  so  far  as  cultural  inheritance  is 
concerned,  from  the  family  to  the  state.  The  twentieth 
century  may  see  the  same  transference  of  responsibility 
in  the  case  of  material  inheritance.  And  the  one  might 
conceivably  be  as  great  a  gain  as  the  other ;  for  is  it  not 
better  in  a  democracy  to  endow  opportunity  for  the 
many  than  to  endow  parasitism  and  luxury  for  a  few  ? 
Enormous  sums  might  thereby  be  made  available  for 


l66        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

educational  and  other  public  welfare  purposes.  And 
the  gross  inequalities  of  wealth  that  now  constitute 
such  a  serious  social  irritant  could  thus  be  systemat- 
ically mitigated  once  every  generation,  with  hardship 
to  nobody.  It  is  the  socially  created  handicaps  and 
advantages,  for  which  no  rational  justification  can  be 
offered,  that  generate  the  social  unrest. 

The  case  is  not  quite  so  clear  for  graduated  income 
taxes.  There  is  more  danger  that  they  might  put  a 
penalty  on  brains,  and  discourage  industry.  This  is  of 
course  a  real  danger,  but  it  is  least  likely  to  be  a  social 
menace  when  applied  to  the  few  excessively  rich,  espe- 
cially when  such  incomes  accrue  chiefly  from  property. 
At  any  rate  we  should  hardly  take  too  seriously  the 
present  outcry  against  them.  It  may  be  repeated  that 
it  is  only  sheep  that  before  their  shearers  are  dumb. 

The  enormous  war  debts  under  which  the  world  is 
now  staggering  make  it  critically  important  that  the 
middle  class  study  taxation  with  a  view  to  redistribu- 
tion of  wealth  thereby.  If  concentration  should  again 
be  promoted  by  the  methods  of  paying  our  present 
super-enormous  war  debts,  as  it  was  by  our  methods 
of  paying  the  relatively  small  debts  after  the  Civil 
War,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  there  could  be  much  real 
democracy  left.  A  great  war  debt  is  an  unsafe  thing 
for  a  democracy! 

Second:  Monopoly.  One  of  the  pressing  needs  of 
the  present  situation  is  the  control  of  monopoly  and 
near  monopoly.  But  it  is  also  one  of  the  unsolved 
problems  of  economics.  Professor  Jones  1  concludes 
(p.  493),  "that  the  program  of  trust  dissolution  has  by 

1  "The  Trust  Problem  in  the  United  States." 


SOME    NECESSARY    ECONOMIC    REFORMS  1 67 

no  means  been  fully  successful."  Professor  Ely  pre- 
dicted as  much,  twenty-odd  years  ago,  as  anyone  might 
have  done  who  understood  the  principles  underlying  the 
movement.  The  following  sentences  may  be  quoted 
from  Professor  Jones's  conclusion: 

"If,  then,  the  purposes  of  the  anti-trust  laws  are  to  be 
achieved,  it  is  evident  that  unfair  methods  of  competition 
must  be  eliminated;  the  monopolization  of  natural  re- 
sources must  be  prevented,  by  socialization  if  necessary; 
the  patent  laws  must  be  revised ;  trust  dissolutions  must 
be  made  more  effective ;  and  the  tariff  must  be  reformed" 

(P-  563). 

"The  restoration  of  competitive  conditions  would  be 
greatly  expedited  by  the  reform  of  our  corporation  laws, 
and  in  particular  by  the  requirement  that  all  corporations 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce  be  compelled  to  take  out  a 
federal  charter"  (p.  563). 

"If,  however,  the  destruction  of  the  trusts  is  not  deemed 
feasible,  or  even  socially  desirable,  there  are  two  alter- 
natives :  ( 1 )  The  trusts  may  be  permitted  to  continue  as 
privately  owned  monopolies,  their  potentialities  for  evil 
being  removed,  so  far  as  possible,  through  governmental 
regulation  of  their  prices,  securities,  and  the  like,  following 
the  analogy  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
The  difficulties  that  are  likely  to  be  encountered  in  carry- 
ing out  this  program  are  impressive.  (2)  The  other 
alternative  is  the  socialization  of  the  monopolized  indus- 
tries. For  this  step  the  country  is  not  yet  ready,  and 
perhaps  may  never  be"  (p.  565). 

Third:  Immigration.  The  Minneapolis  Journal 
recently  raised  the  question  editorially  whether  a  coun- 
try might  not  have  too  much  population.  This  is  a 
new  point  of  view  in  the  popular  press.     There  are 


1 68        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

reasons  why  growth  of  population  has  always  been 
regarded  favorably.  It  was  desirable  for  purposes  of 
defense  as  well  as  industry.  The  death  rate  was  high; 
so  a  high  birth  rate  was  necessary.  In  America  the 
vast  new  area  to  be  occupied  made  a  rapidly  growing 
population  desirable.  But  we  have  now  arrived  at  a 
stage  of  our  development  when  we  must  develop  a  new 
point  of  view.  The  old  superstition  about  the  duty 
of  raising  large  families  may  have  been  valid  in  olden 
times,  but  now  it  serves  only  as  "dope"  with  which 
employers  like  to  doctor  the  labor  market.  From  now 
on  the  growth  of  population  means  Ricardo's  iron  law 
of  wages.  It  means  cut-throat  competition  among 
laborers.  It  means  poverty,  and  poverty  means  social 
unrest.  And  so  far  as  breeding  poverty  and  social 
unrest  is  concerned,  immigration  from  Europe  is  worse 
than  "immigration  from  heaven" — the  steerage  is 
worse  than  the  stork — because  foreigners  have  such 
low  standards  of  living. 

The  public  mind  is  badly  muddled  on  the  subject  of 
immigration,  chiefly  because  it  has  been  "doped."  In 
the  first  place  we  need  to  remember  that  the  talk  we 
hear  so  constantly  about  scarcity  of  labor  is  not.  true. 
It  simply  is  not  true !  There  is  no  more  fundamental 
idea  for  the  public  to  get  into  its  head  than  the  fallacy 
and  deceit  of  this  "dope"  about  scarcity  of  labor. 
About  2,000,000  is  the  normal  number  of  unemployed. 
Except  in  exceptional  times,  like  the  stress  of  war  or 
reconstruction,  there  is  an  over-supply  of  labor.  The 
fear  of  unemployment  is  one  of  the  most  serious  wor- 
ries of  the  laboring  man.  Unrestricted  immigration 
makes  it  worse.  There  is  an  element  of  employers' 
propaganda  in  the  demand  for  imported  labor.     An 


SOME   NECESSARY   ECONOMIC    REFORMS  169 

abundant  supply  of  cheap  labor  is  the  purpose  of  the 
big  corporations  in  conniving  with  the  steamship  com- 
panies to  fill  the  steerage.  The  foreigner,  because  of 
the  low  standard  of  living  that  he  is  accustomed  to, 
will  accept  a  lower  wage  than  the  native  worker;  so 
competition  with  the  foreigner  forces  down  the  wages 
of  the  natives.  The  chief  effect  of  immigration  is  to 
depress  American  wages;  and  that  is  why  the  public 
is  kept  humbugged  about  it,  and  why  it  is  so  hard  to 
get  it  restricted  by  law. 

This  is  the  joker  in  the  protective  tariff.  During 
the  entire  period  while  the  importation  of  the  products 
of  foreign  labor  was  restricted,  the  importation  of 
foreign  labor  itself  was  never  restricted  at  all.  Instead 
of  protecting  American  labor  against  cheap  foreign 
labor,  the  tariff  made  American  labor  pay  a  high  price 
for  their  employers'  protected  goods,  while  getting  a 
low  price  for  their  own  unprotected  labor.  This  is 
why  students  of  the  subject  are  not  at  all  surprised 
when  reactionary  politicians  advocate  a  return  to  the 
protective  tariff.  War  debts  furnish  a  most  admirable 
excuse. 

While  the  assimilation  of  immigrant  population 
keeps  the  labor  market  in  constant  congestion,  it  does 
not,  as  the  public  naively  supposes,  increase  the  popu- 
lation in  the  long  run.  It  is  generally  assumed  by 
American  economists  that  the  immigration  of  the  past 
fifty  years  has  not  made  our  present  population  much 
greater  than  what  it  would  have  been  without  immi- 
gration. In  the  future  it  will  probably  increase  our 
population  less  than  in  the  past.  Immigration  simply 
substitutes  the  children  of  immigrants  for  the  unborn 
children  of  the  native  stock!     Native  workers,  finding 


170        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

themselves  unable  to  compete  with  foreign  workers 
and  maintain  their  standard  of  living,  have  recourse  to 
limiting  the  size  of  their  families.  Foreign  workers 
feel  no  such  necessity.  Immigration  has  been  one  of 
the  chief  factors  in  reducing  the  birth  rate  of  the 
middle  class.  There  is  a  consensus  of  opinion  among 
economists  and  sociologists  that  immigration  should 
be  rigorously  restricted.  For  if  we  allow  ourselves, 
generation  after  generation,  to  be  swamped  by  an  army 
of  cheap  immigrants  we  can  hardly  hope  to  solve  our 
problem  at  all.  A  man  might  as  well  try  to  warm  his 
house  and  family  in  the  winter  with  his  doors  standing 
wide  open,  in  the  delusion  that  he  is  warming  the  people 
in  the  street. 

Fourth:  Industrial  Education.  We  need  a  thorough- 
going reorganization  of  our  educational  system  with  a 
view  to  adequate  vocational  training.  Our  present 
secondary  education,  which  requires  boys  and  girls  of 
the  teen-age  to  spend  so  much  of  their  time  sitting  on 
board  seats  and  reading  out  of  books  is  in  direct 
defiance  of  all  the  physical  and  mental  tendencies  of 
adolescence.  Nature  demands  that  they  be  active,  and 
industrial  participation  is  one  of  the  most  educative 
experiences  to  which  they  could  be  subjected.  The 
halfway  position  that  secondary  education  now  occu- 
pies between  the  old  Latin-mathematics  curriculum  and 
a  really  adequate  provision  for  universal  vocational 
training,  is,  to  admit  the  truth,  a  halfway  station 
between  the  old  fashioned  secondary  education  designed 
only  for  aristocrats,  and  that  really  democratic  educa- 
tion for  the  masses  which  the  future  will  eventually 
bring  forth. 


SOME    NECESSARY    ECONOMIC    REFORMS  17I 

The  application  of  science  and  the  use  of  machinery 
are  capable  of  making  undreamed-of  changes  in 
numerous  lines  of  work.  This  fact  was  mentioned 
before,  and  agriculture  was  cited  as  an  example. 
Housekeeping  is  another  example.  Electricity  is  the 
best  maid.  There  is  scarcely  any  art  nor  science  that 
a  good  home  maker  cannot  make  use  of.  Domestic 
engineering  is  a  coming  profession,  for  which  all  girls 
should  be  professionalized  through  the  high  school 
curriculum.  And  what  is  true  of  these  two  types  of 
drudgery  is  true  of  nobody  knows  how  many  other 
types. 

And  with  an  industrial  education  of  the  scope  sug- 
gested here  the  productivity  of  labor  could  be  very 
greatly  increased.  There  are  two  ways  of  making  two 
blades  of  productive  labor  grow  where  but  one  had 
grown  before.  One  is  to  import  an  extra  laborer  from 
Europe ;  the  other  is  to  double  the  productive  power  of 
the  native  laborer  by  giving  him  industrial  education, 
including  a  technical  knowledge  of  the  sciences  and 
mechanics  involved  in  his  work.  The  advantage  of 
the  latter  is  that  it  adds  to  the  food  supply  without 
adding  mouths  to  be  fed.  It  ought,  therefore,  to  be 
universal.  Such  an  educational  innovation  requires 
some  faith,  however;  and  would  involve  some  changes 
in  the  industrial  processes. 

According  to  all  competent  sociological  and  educa- 
tional opinion  industrial  education  should  be  accom- 
panied by  liberal  education.  The  two  should  not  be 
divorced;  in  fact,  that  can  not  be,  as  any  one  must 
realize  who  stops  to  consider  how  essential  science  is 
to  all  industrial  processes.     Such  education,  combining 


172        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

industrial  training  and  liberal  culture,  would  qualify 
the  laboring  class  for  the  enfranchisement  called  for 
in  the  first  part  of  this  chapter. 

In  Chapter  VIII  it  was  asserted  *  that  the  greatest 
undeveloped  market  for  American  industry  is  the 
potential  purchasing  power  of  the  laboring  class.  It 
was  there  pointed  out  that  raising  the  standard  of  living 
of  the  poor  so  as  to  produce  this  extra  market,  need 
come  out  of  the  industrial  shares  of  no  one  else.  The 
reason  must  now  be  apparent;  by  industrial  education 
their  productive  power  can  be  increased,  so  that  their 
higher  standard  of  living  would  only  be  their  own 
extra  consumption  of  their  own  extra  production. 

Industrial  education  will  be  mentioned  again  in 
Chapter  XVI. 

Fifth:  Health.  Three  million  people  are  on  the  sick 
list  all  the  time,  afflicted  either  with  tuberculosis,  pneu- 
monia, venereal  diseases,  typhoid,  malaria,  hookworm, 
yellow  fever,  or  industrial  diseases.  Two  thirds  of 
the  children  of  our  public  schools  are  handicapped  by 
malnutrition,  defective  teeth,  diseased  tonsils,  adenoids, 
enlarged  glands,  impaired  vision  or  hearing,  spinal 
curvature,  organic  heart  disease,  nervous  disorder  or 
other  physical  defects  prejudicial  to  health.  Nearly 
half  a  million  industrial  accidents  occur  annually,  fully 
ten  per  cent  of  which  are  fatal.  Infant  mortality 
accounts  for  one  fourth  the  death  rate.  All  this  im- 
poses an  awful  burden  upon  the  people,  especially  upon 
the  poor.  It  reduces  their  earning  power  very  materi- 
ally indeed,  as  well  as  increasing  their  expenses.  It 
deprives  families  of  their  means  of  support,  plunging 
them  into  pauperism  and  depriving  the  rising  genera- 

*See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  112. 


SOME    NECESSARY   ECONOMIC    REFORMS  1 73 

tion  of  opportunity.  It  causes  incalculable  suffering 
and  grief.  It  perpetuates  itself  from  generation  to 
generation. 

Science  has  now  advanced  to  the  stage  where  most 
of  this  is  preventable.  Health  becomes  accordingly  a 
natural  right.  The  first  step  is  a  complete  system  of 
medical  inspection  in  schools,  together  with  school 
clinics  and  practical  instruction  in  hygiene.  This  is 
rapidly  developing  already,  and  is  full  of  promise.  The 
Red  Cross  is  not  only  promoting  this  health  work  in 
schools  but  is  extending  it  into  the  communities,  and 
carrying  it  to  the  homes.  Sociologists  have  long 
advocated  "the  socialization  of  the  medical  profession," 
which  means  that  doctors,  nurses  and  pharmacists 
should  be  employees  of  the  state,  just  as  teachers  now 
are,  and  hospitals  and  clinics,  public  institutions  like 
the  schools.  The  arguments  against  this  are  precisely 
the  same  as  those  urged  against  the  public  school  one 
hundred  years  ago.  Present  developments,  especially 
health  work  in  schools,  and  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross, 
indicate  that  the  socialization  of  the  medical  profession 
may  not  be  so  very  far  in  the  future. 

Sixth:  Miscellaneous  Economic  Reforms.  The 
foregoing  are  among  the  most  fundamental  of  the 
scientific  measures  for  securing  a  larger  measure  of 
social  justice.  They  are  some  of  the  changes  most 
needed  in  the  rules  of  the  game.  But  there  are  many 
others.  To  discuss  them  all  would  be  to  write  a  thick 
book  instead  of  a  short  chapter.  A  few  others  may  be 
mentioned. 

Unemployment  is  a  serious  burden  to  labor;  the 
right  to  work  would  seem  to  be  a  natural  right.  "The 
creation    of    a    comprehensive,    efficient    and    neutral 


174        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

federal-state  employment  service,  manned  with  a  trained 
and  progressive  personnel,  inspired  by  sound  ideals  of 
national  service,  and  functioning  for  both  economic  and 
social  progress,  is  the  immediate  need  of  America."  x 
The  government  can  guarantee  employment  by  planning 
public  works  to  be  done  at  slack  seasons.  The  plan 
would  affect  the  labor  market  much  as  the  federal  re- 
serve banking  system  affects  the  money  market. 

Industrial  accident,  sickness,  and  old  age  insurance 
have  already  been  somewhat  developed;  suitable  legal 
enactments  should  carry  these  types  of  social  insurance 
much  farther.  Child  and  woman  labor,  the  conditions 
of  labor,  housing  and  sanitation,  should  all  be  con- 
trolled by  law ;  much  has  already  been  accomplished  in 
these  lines.  High  finance,  or  the  jugglery  of  corpora- 
tion securities,  has  been  one  of  the  flagrant  evils  of 
recent  times.  Too  many  large  fortunes  represent  no 
contribution  whatever  to  industry,  national  wealth,  nor 
social  welfare,  but  only  the  clever  manipulation  of 
stocks  and  bonds.  In  its  worst  forms  corporation 
finance  has  been  plain  gambling  and  pure  cheat.  Such 
wrongs  must  be  made  crimes  against  the  law. 

Seventh:  International  Comity.  International  trade, 
outlet  into  the  world  markets,  and  dependable  interna- 
tional credits,  are  necessary  to  our  national  prosperity. 
These  are  seriously  hindered  of  course  by  unstable  in- 
ternational relations.  The  burden  of  taxation  to  pre- 
pare against  possible  future  wars  is  becoming  insuffer- 
able. Besides,  actual  war  is  always  imminent,  a 
Moloch  ever  ready  to  destroy  the  children  of  each  new 
generation.    The  after  war  collapse  of  credit  threatens 

1  Don    L.    Loescher,    in   American   Labor   Legislation    Review, 
March,  1920,  p.  59. 


SOME    NECESSARY    ECONOMIC    REFORMS  175 

the  collapse  of  international  trade.  But  it  takes  more 
than  good  will  and  pious  wishes  to  assure  international 
peace  and  stability.  There  must  be  some  machinery 
which  can  enforce  the  adjustment  of  differences.  Not 
personal  good  will,  but  the  courts  of  justice  put  an  end 
to  private  defense  and  vengeance.  The  German  states 
fought  among  themselves  until  a  federal  empire  was 
set  up.  The  Greek  states  never  achieved  such  a  piece 
of  interstate  machinery;  instead  they  fought  each  other 
to  death.  The  aim  of  our  Civil  War  was  to  preserve 
our  federal  institution.  And  there  will  never  be  inter- 
national peace  till  the  world  creates  some  international 
machinery  competent  to  enforce  it. 

But  that  machinery  will  cost  something.  The  price 
will  be  to  limit  the  sovereignty  of  nations;  just  as  the 
price  of  matrimony  is  to  limit  the  freedom  of  the 
contracting  parties.  We  individualistic  middle  class 
Americans  are  discouragingly  slow  in  seeing  the  neces- 
sity for  that.  We  can  see  the  costs  of  an  international 
federation;  but  we  cannot  see  the  cost  of  getting  along 
without  one.     That  cost  is  the  next  war ! 


The  aggregate  effect  of  all  these  reforms  would  be 
very  considerable  indeed.  They  would  prevent  no  com- 
petent person  from  becoming  rich;  only  from  becom- 
ing richer  than  is  good  for  society.  They  would  re- 
move from  nobody  the  incentive  to  do  his  best  work; 
instead  they  would  furnish  motives  for  work — oppor- 
tunity, prospects  and  necessity — to  millions  who  now 
lack  them.  They  would  conserve  the  inherent  rights 
of  all  children  to  health,  home,  education  and  oppor- 
tunity.    They  would   impose   neither   unjust   burdens 


I76        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

nor  unwise  restrictions  on  anybody.  Together  they 
would  greatly  increase  the  sum  total  of  human  happi- 
ness, give  democracy  the  appearance  of  a  sincere  at- 
tempt to  achieve  social  justice,  and  very  greatly  allay 
the  social  unrest. 

In  this  connection  the  reader  will  be  interested  in  a 
quotation  from  a  magazine  article  by  Thomas  Nixon 
Carver,  the  Harvard  economist,  one  of  the  strictest  and 
most  orthodox  opponents  of  socialism  in  the  academic 
circles  of  this  country.     He  wrote  :  * 

"Socialism  as  a  movement  is  quite  distinct  from  so- 
cialism as  a  theory  of  industrial  organization,  and  it  is 
also  to  be  distinguished  from  socialism  as  a  program. 
Socialism  as  a  movement  is  merely  a  development  of 
class  spirit  among  propertyless  wage  workers,  and  of 
class  antagonism  against  the  owners  of  capital.  This 
movement  does  not  depend  in  the  least  upon  justice  or 
injustice,  or  upon  economic  soundness  or  unsoundness. 
It  is  wholly  a  matter  of  class  consciousness  and  class 
antagonism.  It  will  succeed,  whether  its  views  be  just 
or  not,  whenever  its  class  consciousness  becomes  strong 
enough,  and  its  class  antagonism  bitter  enough,  to  sweep 
away  the  present  social  order.  It  will  fail,  whether  its 
views  be  sound  or  unsound,  if  this  class  consciousness 
fails  to  include  the  majority  of  the  people,  or  if  their 
class  hatred  does  not  become  bitter  enough  to  make  them 
revolutionists. 

"More  specifically,  the  day  when  fifty-one  per  cent  of 
the  voters  find  themselves  in  the  condition  of  propertyless 
wage  workers,  with  no  reasonable  hope  of  ever  becoming 
anything  else,  will  be  the  last  day  of  the  present  social 
order,  and  the  next  day  will  be  the  first  day  of  socialism. 
Let  us  not  imagine  that  we  can  avoid  this  cataclysm  by 
arguments,  however  sound,  to  show  that  the  proposed 

1  Independent,  July  31,  1913. 


SOME    NECESSARY    ECONOMIC    REFORMS  1 77 

new  social  order  is  economically  unsound  or  imprac- 
ticable. It  does  not  need  to  be  either  practicable,  sound 
or  just.  It  will  come  anyway  whenever  fifty-one  per 
cent  of  the  voters  see  that  they  have  nothing  to  gain  by 
preserving  the  present  system.  It  may  be  that  the  change 
will  send  us  all  to  perdition;  to  perdition  we  shall  go 
whenever  the  conditions  described  above  are  reached." 

The  foregoing  reforms — and  others  like  them — 
would  drain  the  swamps  and  marshes  of  our  social  area 
so  that  socialism  could  not  grow  in  them.  But  for 
capitalism  to  assume  instead  an  uncompromising  and 
aggressive  attitude  of  opposition  to  such  reforms  is 
sheer  suicidal  madness.  Nor  is  it  any  the  less  suicidal 
imbecility  for  the  middle  classes  to  drift  along  in  smug, 
blind,  ignorant  indifference  to  what  is  happening  to  us 
all,  and  how  it  can  be  prevented. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  MIDDLE  CLASS  AS  THE  DOCTOR 

SO  far  in  this  book  three  classes  of  American 
society  have  been  referred  to,  namely  capital, 
labor,  and  the  middle  class.  If  any  cure  for  the 
social  unrest  is  to  be  effected  each  of  these  classes  has 
its  own  peculiar  responsibility  to  perform.  The  rest- 
less poor  must  be  patient.  They  think  they  have  been 
patient  long  enough ;  but  they  have  not.  Haste  makes 
waste;  revolutions  are  always  followed  by  reaction. 
Nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  rash  violence.  There  is 
really  good  ground  for  patience.  Rome  was  not  built 
in  a  single  day.  At  the  rate  history  is  made,  the 
progress  of  social  reform  in  the  last  generation  is  by  no 
means  discouraging.  Reform  waits  upon  the  molding 
of  public  opinion;  haste  in  advance  of  public  opinion 
only  delays  the  final  consummation.  Hence  advocates 
of  reform  must  resort  less  to  radical  agitation,  and 
more  to  sound  discussion.  They  must  put  their  trust 
in  free  speech,  and  not  in  torch  and  bomb.  Every 
tendency  on  their  part  to  resort  to  violence  must  be 
restrained.  If  they  understand  their  own  interests, 
they  will  restrain  such  tendencies  voluntarily,  and  culti- 
vate the  age-tried  individual  virtues  upon  which  civili- 
zation always  has  depended,  and  always  will.  The 
chief  enemy  of  the  man  at  the  left  is  the  man  at  the 
more  extreme  left.    And  if  the  tendency  to  violence  is 

178 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASS  AS  THE  DOCTOR      1 79 

not  voluntarily  restrained,  it  must  be  restrained  by 
compulsion.  But  in  such  a  way  as  to  interfere  neither 
with  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech,  nor  with 
representative  government;  for  they,  all  classes  must 
unite  in  understanding,  are  the  modern  substitute  for 
violence. 

The  radical  element  in  the  laboring  class  are  commit- 
ting a  fatal  blunder  by  their  doctrine  of  sabotage  and 
direct  action.  Sabotage  is  based  on  the  assumption  that 
labor  and  capital  have  nothing  whatever  in  common; 
and  that  labor's  best  card,  therefore,  is  to  deliver  the 
least  possible  for  its  wage.  This  philosophy  has  per- 
meated the  vast  majority  of  the  workers,  until  an 
honest  day's  work  is  becoming  altogether  too  excep- 
tional. The  avowed  aim  of  this  theory  and  practice  is 
to  bring  about  the  collapse  of  the  present  system,  by 
obstructing  production  and  promoting  friction  in  every 
possible  way.  The  result  has  been  to  alienate  the  good 
will  and  support  of  the  public,  that  is,  of  the  great 
middle  class.  Ten  years  ago  the  cause  of  labor  enjoyed 
generous  public  sympathy.  That  was  its  greatest  asset. 
That  asset  labor  has  largely  squandered;  and  the  radi- 
cal element  is  to  blame.  The  public  is  willing  to  reform 
the  present  system;  and,  if  time  enough  is  allowed  for 
the  education  of  public  opinion,  to  do  it  thoroughly. 
But  the  American  public  will  never  permit .  the  over- 
throw of  the  present  system.  The  chaos  of  social  revo- 
lution they  desperately  fear  and  abhor.  And  they  will 
see  the  laboring  class,  with  all  their  grievances,  in  the 
deepest  Hades  for  a  thousand  years  to  come,  before 
they  will  tolerate  for  one  moment  the  "Bolshevik"  pro- 
gram of  destruction.  If  that  program  is  insisted  upon 
by  the  "reds,"  the  middle  class  will  line  up  in  the  coming 


l8o        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

readjustment  against  the  laboring  class,  and  defend  the 
existing  order  to  the  last  ditch.  A  policy  of  sabotage 
and  direct  action  is  the  worst  possible  damage  the 
laboring  class  can  inflict  upon  their  own  cause.  They 
can  never  win  in  America  without  the  support  of  the 
middle  class.  Middle  class  social  philosophy  and  ideals, 
and  middle  class  methods  of  reform  are  their  only  hope. 
Any  propaganda  that  undermines  the  middle  class 
philosophy  of  life  and  morals  in  the  minds  of  the 
workers  is  extremely  dangerous  therefore.  It  is  also 
futile;  and  will  continue  to  be  so  until  the  condition  of 
the  masses  sinks  very  much  lower  indeed  than  it  is  in 
America,  or  is  ever  likely  to  become.  This  is  not 
Russia!  The  facts  are  that  in  America  the  material 
condition  of  the  masses  is  relatively  good ;  educational 
facilities  are  generous,  and  opportunities  are  sufficiently 
open  so  that  poor  boys  are  constantly  rising  to  posi- 
tions of  wealth.  A  far  wiser  propaganda  for  the  work- 
ers is  one  that  will  ally  and  amalgamate  them  with  the 
middle  class.  And  such  an  alliance  and  amalgamation 
should  be  forced  upon  the  lower  classes,  whether  their 
agitators  like  it  or  not,  by  compulsory  attendance  laws 
that  will  make  high  school  graduation  practically  uni- 
versal. 

As  for  the  very  rich,  they  must  make  concessions. 
Not  in  the  form  of  charity,  to  be  sure,  but  in  the  form 
of  such  changes  in  the  rules  of  the  game  as  will  bring 
about  social  justice  eventually.  The  concessions  which 
the  rich  must  make  cannot  be  bogus,  fictitious  nor  frac- 
tional concessions,  like  profit  sharing,  stock  distribution 
to  employees,  factory  welfare  work,  and  the  like,  valu- 
able half -loaves  as  these  sometimes  are.  Such  devices 
do  not  turn  the  main  currents  of  wealth  distribution 


THE   MIDDLE   CLASS   AS   THE   DOCTOR  l8l 

nor  industrial  control  out  of  their  customary  channels. 
A  genuine  redistribution  of  power  and  wealth  is  abso- 
lutely indispensable  to  social  peace;  and  the  sooner 
those  in  control  realize  this  fact  the  better  it  will  be  for 
all  concerned.  The  unduly  rich  must  frankly  look  for- 
ward to  a  modified  social  status  for  their  descendants, 
and  accept  public  measures  calculated  to  render  their 
children  and  grandchildren  only  moderately  rich;  and 
even  that  only  upon  condition  of  hard,  efficient,  useful 
work. 

Why  can  they  not  understand  that  this  is  to  their 
own  interest  in  the  long  run?  Can  they  not  see  that 
the  Stuarts,  the  Bourbons,  the  Hapsburgs,  the  Roman- 
offs, and  the  Hohenzollerns  might  all  have  survived  to 
places,  not  only  of  affectionate  regard,  but  of  reverence 
for  their  ancestral  trees,  had  they  made  the  appropriate 
concessions  at  the  opportune  times !  During  the  early 
stages  of  the  French  Revolution  the  privileged  classes 
stubbornly  resisted  all  change.  A  little  later  they  were 
seized  with  a  veritable  mania  for  the  voluntary  surren- 
der of  their  hereditary  privileges;  but  it  was  too  late! 
The  course  of  events  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Paris  mob.  It  is  not  the  autocrats  of  government,  but 
the  autocrats  of  industry  and  finance,  against  whom  the 
shafts  of  the  present  age  are  being  leveled.  Why  can 
they  not  learn  the  lessons  of  history  ? 

To  make  such  concessions  now  is  the  best  possible 
provision  they  can  make  for  the  welfare  of  their  de- 
scendants. It  is  far  better  to  bequeath  to  their  children 
a  fair  chance  in  a  just  world  than  to  bequeath  to  them 
the  fat  chances  in  an  unjust  world;  for  eventually  the 
fat  will  be  in  the  fire.  As  Mr.  Roosevelt  so  wisely, 
indeed  so  prophetically,  remarked,  "We  must  become, 


l82        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

to  a  real  degree,  our  brother's  keeper,  especially  for  the 
sake  of  our  own  children;  for  in  the  long  run  this 
world  will  not  be  a  pleasant  living  place  for  our  children 
unless  it  is  also  a  reasonably  comfortable  living  place 
for  our  brother's  children."  1  This  kind  of  talk  is  not 
pleasant,  to  be  sure,  for  the  excessively  rich  to  listen  to ; 
but  it  is  for  their  own  good,  and  their  children's,  never- 
theless. Nor  is  it  intended  in  the  least  as  a  threat :  but 
rather  as  a  solemn  warning.  The  threat  is  in  the  unrest 
of  the  times,  and  in  the  lessons  of  history. 

This  would  be  a  fortunate  democracy  indeed  if  the 
concessions  referred  to  could  only  be  made  voluntarily. 
The  Christian  worth  and  sincerity  of  rich  men  is  not  to 
be  determined  by  their  conspicuous  contributions  to 
good  causes,  nor  by  their  participation  in  great  ecclesi- 
astical drives;  but  by  the  attitude  they  take  toward 
scientific  movements  for  social  justice,  especially  when 
their  own  pecuniary  interests  are  involved.  Not  bloody 
hands  but  a  bloody  brow  is  the  acceptable  credentials 
of  Christ-like  leadership  for  a  better  world.  One 
thousand  rich  men,  associated  together  in  a  truly  patri- 
otic, Christian  spirit  of  self  sacrifice,  could  organize 
and  promote  the  voluntary  readjustment  here  referred 
to;  and  thereby  benefit  not  only  society  in  general  and 
their  own  immediate  heirs  in  particular,  but  win  the 
lasting  admiration  and  gratitude  of  posterity.  A  very 
few  men  can  do  almost  infinite  damage.  Probably  the 
slave  owning  aristocracy  of  the  Old  South,  who  pushed 
this  country  into  the  Civil  War,  were  not  over  five  per 
cent  of  the  population.  A  very  few  men  in  Germany 
touched  the  button  that  started  the  world  conflagration 
in  1 9 14.    Why  can  not  a  few  men  in  strategic  positions 

1  "The  Foes  of  Our  Own  Household,"  p.  141. 


THE    MIDDLE   CLASS   AS   THE   DOCTOR  183 

do  as  great  an  amount  of  good?  One  hundred  of 
America's  richest  men,  yes,  a  dozen,  if  they  were  capa- 
ble of  sufficient  insight  to  do  it  sincerely  and  intelli- 
gently, are  in  a  position  to  organize  and  promote  the 
reforms  the  age  needs,  and  so  set  us  safely  across  the 
riffles  into  the  smooth  waters  of  the  new  era.  Is  it  too 
much  to  hope  that  two  thousand  years  of  Christianity 
have  generated  the  ideals  and  atmosphere  that  could 
produce  such  a  body  of  voluntary  reformers?  We 
have  a  few  rich  men  who  have  made  themselves  con- 
spicuous by  their  labors  in  behalf  of  social  justice; 
enough  of  them  to  take  the  lead.  It  is  not  large  charity 
that  is  referred  to  here;  but  measures  for  social  justice. 
There  are  without  doubt  many  others  who  would  be 
glad  to  consecrate  themselves  to  this  great  cause.  Let 
rich  men  of  this  spirit  search  each  other  out,  associate 
themselves  together,  and  formulate  a  program  under 
the  guidance  of  specialists  in  social  science.  Such  a 
program,  if  it  were  sound  and  just,  would  be  irresist- 
ible. It  would  kill  radicalism  stone  dead.  Meantime 
let  every  rich  man  hang  on  the  walls  of  his  house 
Hoffman's  picture  of  The  Rich  Young  Ruler. 

The  largest  responsibility,  however,  is  with  the  great 
middle  class  of  American  citizens,  for  it  is  with  them 
that  our  hope  lies.  However  much  we  may  wish  for 
voluntary  restraint  from  the  extreme  left  and  voluntary 
concessions  from  the  extreme  right,  there  is,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  little  real  expectation  of  either.  Sound, 
safe  reform,  if  it  is  to  come  at  all,  will  come  chiefly  at 
the  dictates  of  public  opinion,  growing  out  of  the  en- 
lightened justice  and  common  sense  of  the  great  body 
of  our  people. 

Of  the  momentous  issue  now  impending,  the  great 


184        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

middle  class  are  the  natural  arbitrators,  and,  whether 
by  peace  or  strife,  the  predestined  umpires.  If  the 
struggle  should  ever  come  to  blows  (God  grant  that  it 
may  not!)  they  would  be  the  most  tragic  sufferers. 
The  plutocrats,  of  course,  the  gods  would  eventually 
destroy.  The  "proletariat"  would  redden  the  streets 
with  their  blood — but  their  stock  would  survive.  The 
sufferings  of  these  two  classes  would  be  as  logical  as 
tragic,  for  it  is  their  issue.  But  the  case  would  be 
lamentably  different  for  the  middle  class;  for  their 
quarrel  it  is  not.  Nevertheless  they  would  pay  the 
heaviest  costs.  For  a  class  conflict  would,  like  all  such 
issues,  precipitate  itself  in  such  vague  shape,  confused 
by  so  many  subsidiary  and  irrelevant  details,  that  mil- 
lions would  be  unable  to  decide  which  part  they  ought 
to  espouse.  But  they  would  be  conscripted  by  the 
suction  of  cataclysmic  circumstances.  Both  sides  would 
be  reinforced  by  the  sons  of  the  middle  class.  The 
deluge  of  a  class  conflict  would  be  a  deluge  of  their 
blood,  drawn  brother  by  brother,  in  an  issue  utterly 
alien  to  their  natural  interests.  It  has  always  been  so 
in  every  historic  struggle  between  classes.  Can  we 
never  learn  the  lessons  of  history!  Obviously,  there- 
fore, it  is  incumbent  upon  all  middle  class  citizens,  as  a 
matter  of  self-preservation,  to  see  to  it  that  some  peace- 
ful means  of  settling  the  class  struggle  be  forced  into 
effective  operation  at  once. 

The  principle  around  which  a  middle  class  program 
of  arbitration  and  reform  can  be  built  is  strikingly 
simple,  it  is  to  get  everybody  into  the  middle  class! 
Aristocrats  at  the  right  should  be  constrained  to  devote 
their  excess  wealth  to  the  general  good,  renounce  their 
imperial  ambitions,  and  pool  their  interests  with  those 


THE    MIDDLE    CLASS   AS    THE   DOCTOR  185 

of  the  middle  class.  The  laboring  class  at  the  left 
should  be  accorded  legal  protection  against  exploitation, 
should  be  assured  educational  facilities  that  will  provide 
them  with  health,  character,  intelligence  and  industrial 
competence,  and  accorded  such  changes  in  the  rules  of 
the  game  as  will  motivate  them  to  their  best  endeavor. 
In  short,  they  should  be  lifted  up  to  the  middle  class 
level.  Not  a  "dead  level,"  to  be  sure;  what  we  want  is 
a  homogeneous  community  in  which  there  are  only  such 
stimulating  differences  in  wealth  and  status  as  can  be 
plausibly  explained  by  the  differences  in  ability  and 
achievement.  Such  reforms  as  those  outlined  in  the 
last  two  chapters  are  measures  by  which  we  of  the 
middle  class  can  put  our  kindly  arms  around  our  fellow 
countrymen  on  either  side,  and  draw  them  into  the 
warm  contacts  of  a  closer  brotherhood. 

But  drawing  everybody  into  the  middle  class  to- 
gether involves  something  vastly  more  fundamental 
than  a  mere  economic  readjustment.  For  economic 
readjustments  can  never  be  permanently  effective  with- 
out moral  and  intellectual  readjustments  along  with 
them.  The  human  race  has  been  trying  for  centuries 
to  evolve  a  political  democracy,  but  the  history  of  the 
last  century  has  taught  those  who  have  studied  its 
meaning  that  political  democracy  can  never  succeed 
except  on  the  basis  of  industrial  democracy.  And  if 
we  ever  achieve  industrial  democracy,  that  too  will 
disappoint  us  unless  along  with  it  we  achieve  a  cultural 
democracy  as  well.  Intellect  and  conscience  are  the 
only  successful  democratizers. 

Now,  membership  in  the  middle  class  is  essentially  a 
thing  of  the  mind  and  heart.  Middle  class  characteris- 
tics are  primarily  ideals,  and  only  secondarily  a  medi- 


l86        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

ocre  ownership  of  wealth.  A  man  may  possess  great 
wealth,  and  yet  be  essentially  middle  class  by  reason  of 
his  attitudes ;  or  on  the  other  hand  he  may  be  poor  and 
yet  belong  to  the  middle  class  on  account  of  the  con- 
tents of  his  intellect  and  conscience.  The  true  middle 
class  characteristics  are  spiritual. 

The  spiritual  characteristics  of  the  middle  class  must 
be  enriched  and  extended.  We  must  ourselves  be  de- 
voted to  them  with  a  richer  faith;  they  must  be  ex- 
tended to  the  souls  of  more  people.  That  is  the 
program. 

The  first  characteristic  of  middle  class  Americans  is 
faith  in  our  institutions.  The  middle  class  citizen 
believes  that  our  institutions  are  on  the  whole  the  best 
that  social  evolution  has  yet  succeeded  in  producing, 
and  that  they  are  in  process  of  becoming  still  better. 
The  plutocrat  does  not  want  our  institutions  to  grow 
better,  because  better  means  to  curtail  his  privileges  in 
the  interest  of  the  masses.  The  "proletariat"  believes 
that  our  institutions  are  hopeless,  and  he  wishes  to 
overthrow  them.  We  need  to  enrich  this  middle  class 
faith  within  ourselves  by  a  more  intelligent  under- 
standing of  why  it  is  so ;  we  need  to  extend  it  to  those 
who  may  have  apostatized  from  it,  and  to  their  children. 

To  be  middle  class  is  to  believe  in  honest  work  of 
hand  and  brain,  and  to  have  a  work  that  one  performs 
with  pride  and  skill.  That  ideal  needs  to  be  enriched, 
too,  in  the  minds  of  those  that  have  it,  and  extended  to 
those  who  have  it  not,  whether  they  be  rich  or  poor. 
The  responsibility  for  extending  and  enriching  this 
ideal  devolves  in  part  upon  the  school,  in  part  upon  the 
church,  and  in  part  upon  the  law. 


THE    MIDDLE    CLASS   AS    THE    DOCTOR  187 

To  be  middle  class  is  to  believe  in  frugality  and  the 
simple  life.  This  ideal  needs  to  be  reinforced  in  the 
souls  of  whoever  may  be  in  danger  of  losing  it,  and 
carefully  inculcated  in  the  extravagant  and  the  im- 
provident. To  be  middle  class  is  to  believe  that 
"knowledge  is  power"  and  to  be  eager  to  get  it.  This 
faith  in  science  and  its  uses  needs  also  to  be  enriched 
in  each  of  us  and  extended  to  all  of  us.  This  is  chiefly 
the  task  of  the  school.  To  be  middle  class  is  to  find 
joy  in  domestic  life,  and  motive  in  domestic  responsi- 
bilities. It  is  also  to  be  conscientious  and  to  have  re- 
ligious faith.  Perhaps  we  must  look  chiefly  to  the 
church  to  enrich  and  extend  these  virtues. 

Such  are  the  spiritual  resources  of  the  middle  class. 
They  cause  the  middle  class  to  be  what  it  really  is  in 
truth:  the  salt  of  the  earth;  the  true  elite — unless, 
indeed,  it  should  lose  its  faith!  These  resources  are 
the  only  kind  of  wealth  that  has  ever  made  any  nation 
permanently  great.  And  this  is  the  wealth  that  must 
be  as  evenly  distributed  as  possible,  if  we  are  to  be 
fused  together  into  a  homogeneous,  harmonious  de- 
mocracy. 

The  chief  obstacle  to  effective  middle  class  democ- 
racy is  that  there  are  too  many  of  us  upon  whom  it  has 
never  dawned  that  middle  class  is  precisely  what  we 
are.  Numerous  very  common  folks  are  ludicrously 
trying  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  being  aristocrats. 
Having  lost  sight  of  the  real  values  of  life,  and  having 
been  hypnotized  by  the  glitter  of  tinsel,  their  chief 
obsession  is  the  silly  illusion  that  middle  class  they  are 
not.  This  chapter,  in  lecture  form,  elicited  the  remark 
from  a  primping  little  high  school  prig,  whose  mother 


l88        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

earns  an  honest  living  by  keeping  boarders,  that  she  did 
not  relish  the  implied  charge  of  being  middle  class, 
since  she  regarded  herself  as  an  aristocrat. 

In  this  connection  let  us  quote  from  The  Literary 
Digest  for  May  7,  1921,  under  the  caption :  "Why  the 
Middle  Class  do  not  Count"  : 

"In  the  London  Outlook  Mr.  E.  T.  Raymond  ascribes 
the  failure,  chiefly  the  political  failure,  of  the  middle 
class,  to  a  lack  of  unity  that  is  caused  by  a  'special 
proneness  to  illusion  which  the  uncharitable  call  snobbish- 
ness,'   and  he  observes: 

"  'May  I  suggest  that  anybody  can  sneer,  with  impunity, 
at  the  middle  class,  and  even  win  a  laugh  in  so  doing 
from  almost  any  member  of  the  middle  class,  merely  be- 
cause hardly  any  man  or  women  conceives  of  himself 
as  belonging  to  that  class  ?  Are  you  dull  and  fairly  well- 
to-do,  or  rather  in  receipt  of  a  fair  annual  income?  Then 
you  persuade  yourself  that  you  belong  to  the  upper  order, 
on  the  ground,  among  other  things,  that  A,  who  was  also 
a  solicitor  like  yourself,  and  a  much  less  well-bred  man, 
is  now  a  Peer  of  the  Realm.  Are  you  penniless  but 
relatively  bright?  Then  you  claim  to  be  a  free  Bo- 
hemian, to  belong  to  no  class,  but  to  be  superior  to  all, 
your  highest  superiority  being  asserted  vis-a-vis  the  mid- 
dle class.' 

"The  surest  way  to  the  heart  of  the  superior  middle 
class  man,  we  are  told,  is  to  pretend  that  he  is  not  middle 
class.  'This  fact  is  illustrated  in  the  popularity  of 
Punch,'1  which  'aims  straight  at  the  heart  of  the  better 
kind  of  villa  resident  in  town  and  country.''  But  Punch 
succeeds  by  'assuming  that  he  hunts  every  season  with 
the  Pytchley,  possesses  his  villa  on  the  Mediterranean, 
and  has  the  run  of  every  country-house,  deer  forest,  and 
grouse-moor  in  Britain.'      Indeed — 

"  'For  Punch  to  admit  cognizance  of  a  race  that  has  a 


THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    AS   THE    DOCTOR  189 

use  for  the  napkin-rings  which  so  puzzled  the  late  Duke 
of  Devonshire  would  be  fatal  to  its  power  over  the  very- 
classes  that  do  use  napkin-rings.  For  the  statistics  of 
napkin-rings  sold  make  it  quite  certain  that  vast  numbers 
of  the  middle  classes  must  use  the  same  napkins  twice; 
napkins  are  not  used  at  all  by  the  masses.  Yet  it  is 
pretty  certain  that  a  sneer  at  the  expense  of  such  highly 
reasonable  economy  in  laundry  would  win  the  loudest 
laugh  from  a  middle  class  man  or  woman.  The  boxes 
might  not  see  the  joke,  or  think  it  stupid ;  the  dress  circle 
would  roar  its  sides  out.  It  is,  I  think,  this  singular 
belief  of  middle  class  men  (and  especially  of  middle 
class  women)  that  they  are  not  middle  class  that  has 
most  to  do  with  the  failure  and  decline  of  a  once  great 
institution.' " 

The  point  which  this  writer  illustrates  by  reference 
to  Punch  might  be  illustrated  by  reference  to  American 
advertising.  The  advertiser  succeeds,  just  as  does 
Punch,  by  assuming  that  the  solicited  consumer  regards 
himself  as  an  aristocrat.  It  would  be  an  illuminating 
experience  for  the  reader  to  study  the  advertisements 
with  this  in  mind. 

This  absurd  ambition  to  be  an  aristocrat  is  an  inter- 
esting phenomenon  in  social  psychology.  It  has  been 
frequently  observed  by  students  of  the  social  mind  that 
subordinated  classes  almost  invariably  concede  the 
superiority  of  those  who  lord  it  over  and  exploit  them. 
Their  minds  are  overawed,  they  render  abject  obei- 
sance, and  they  imitate.  An  exploited  class  can  be  kept 
indefinitely  docile  and  submissive  by  the  simple  device 
of  receiving  an  occasional  son  into  the  privileged  class, 
provided  only  the  illusion  can  be  kept  alive  that  every 
youngster  has  the  chance,  if  only  he  will  prove  himself 
worthy.    This  is  the  way  men  are  managed  in  the  mass ; 


IQO        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

and  nothing  more  clearly  betrays  the  streak  of  fool  in 
human  nature.  We  of  the  middle  class  "fall  for  it"  in 
our  attempts  to  be  aristocrats,  and  in  our  stupid  parrot- 
ing of  capitalistic  economic  theories. 

Scarcely  a  person  but  would  fancy  himself  compli- 
mented if  told  that  he  was  a  born  aristocrat.  But  a 
compliment  is  precisely  what  that  is  not,  when  you  come 
to  think  of  it.  For  an  aristocrat  is  a  person  who  enjoys 
more  than  his  share  of  the  good  things  of  life,  while, 
and  because,  others  go  without  their  share.  An  aristo- 
crat is  successful  selfishness  personified.  The  ambition 
to  be  an  aristocrat  is  based,  let  us  concede,  upon  a 
laudable  instinct,  namely,  the  desire  for  personality. 
But  it  is  also  based  on  an  entirely  mistaken  notion  of 
how  personality  can  best  be  expressed.  Personality 
cannot  be  expressed  by  such  externals  as  feathers  and 
paint,  nor  by  the  forms  of  etiquette  in  vogue,  nor  by 
giving  orders  to  others.  Only  social  conventionality  or 
office  can  be  expressed  in  those  ways ;  and  they  are  not 
resources  of  one's  personality;  they  are  the  appropri- 
ated resources  of  the  society  in  which  one  lives.  One's 
personality  is  expressed  only  by  and  through  his  own 
personal  achievements.  One  who  affects  aristocratic 
conventionalities  only  succeeds  in  blinding  himself  to 
the  fact  that  personality  is  the  very  thing  he  does  not 
possess.  As  the  world  grows  more  democratic  it  be- 
comes more  noticeable  that  men  and  women  of  achieve- 
ment are  the  very  ones  least  concerned  about  posing  as 
aristocrats.  "What!"  exclaimed  a  visitor  who  found 
Mr.  Lincoln  blacking  his  boots,  "Blacking  your  own 
boots,  Mr.  President?"  "Whose  boots  should  I  be 
blacking,  then?"  replied  the  great  man.  Jesus  said 
that  the  pagans  of  his  times  foolishly  regarded  those 


THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    AS    THE    DOCTOR  IQI 

who  lorded  it  over  them  as  their  great  men;  but  he 
declared  that  among  his  followers  those  who  should 
achieve  the  most  for  their  associates  would  eventually 
come  to  be  regarded  as  the  greatest.  And  that  seems 
an  unescapable  inference  from  the  hope  we  have  in  this 
cooperative  venture  we  are  launched  upon,  which  we 
are  pleased  to  call  democracy. 

For  this  ambition  to  be  an  aristocrat  works  exactly 
at  cross  purposes  with  democracy.  Democracy  is  a  co- 
operative effort  to  furnish  everybody  a  sufficient  share 
of  life's  necessities,  a  fair  participation  in  life's  pleas- 
ures, and  a  satisfying  access  to  culture.  In  just  so  far 
as  one  is  an  aristocrat  at  heart,  he  opposes,  of  course, 
this  aim,  and  refuses  to  cooperate.  He  wants  to  belong 
to  the  exclusive  set,  and  the  exclusive  set  must  be  few 
in  numbers,  otherwise  it  is  not  exclusive  at  all.  Not 
only  does  this  state  of  mind  and  heart  render  one  use- 
less in  the  cooperative  enterprise  of  working  out  a 
juster  world,  but  it  also  hastens  the  shaking- through- 
the-sieve  process  for  the  would-be  aristocrat  himself, 
because  it  precludes  the  virtues  and  sacrifices  by  which 
alone  common  people  can  improve  their  economic 
status. 

Hence  this  foolish,  wicked  ambition  is  the  most  in- 
sidious spiritual  disease  of  democracy.  It  retards  the 
growth  of  a  real  brotherhood  among  us  as  nothing 
else  can.  It  is  a  relic  of  medievalism,  when  barons  and 
dukes  strutted  along  the  roads,  and  kings  tyrannized 
over  peasants.  It  is  a  relic  of  paganism,  when  self 
gratification  was  set  up  by  cynical  philosophers  as  the 
chief  good,  and  kindliness  was  openly  ridiculed  as 
weakness.  Obviously  we  shall  never  learn  to  live  in 
peace  and  happiness  together  until  we  rid  our  hearts  of 


192        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

it,  and  conceive  personal  aspirations  that  are  more 
Christian,  more  democratic,  and  more  modern. 

But  the  case  is  far  from  hopeless.  Historically  this 
is  a  strictly  middle  class  republic.  Middle  class  men 
and  women  have  been  its  pioneers  and  builders.  Snob- 
bery and  aristocracy  have  been  openly  repudiated  at 
every  stage  of  its  development.  Our  plain  middle  class 
ideals  are  the  stuff  that  American  democracy  is  made 
of.  It  is  our  kind  of  folks  that  have  been  the  salt  of 
the  earth  here  in  America  from  the  very  beginning. 
Diligence,  self-reliance,  frugality,  simplicity,  honesty, 
self-restraint,  reverence:  these  are  the  qualities  by 
which  the  old  folks  at  home,  and  the  grandparents  be- 
fore them,  laid  the  foundations  of  Americanism,  when 
things  were  still  sound  at  the  core,  and  there  was  no 
social  unrest.  And  there  are  millions  of  us  yet  in  whom 
the  good  old  ideals  of  the  fathers  still  obtain.  Millions 
of  us  are  still  plain,  middle  class  Americans;  such  we 
intend  to  remain,  and  our  children  and  grandchildren 
with  us.  We  are  too  thrifty  to  be  shaken  through  the 
sieve.  We  do  not  envy  the  rich :  on  that  score  our  souls 
are  absolutely  at  peace.  We  furnish  the  substantial 
common  sense  which  will  prevent  any  social  revolution ; 
and  we  know  it. 

The  duty  and  responsibility  of  the  middle  class  in  the 
present  crisis  requires  emphasis.  We  need  to  come  to 
self-consciousness  as  a  class.  Class  consciousness  is 
said  to  be  the  virus  of  American  life.  It  is,  if  we  mean 
the  class  consciousness  of  the  "proletariat,"  including 
their  passionate  hatred  of  capital,  and  their  irrespon- 
sible plotting  for  revenge.  But  there  is  one  kind  of 
class  consciousness  that  needs  to  be  sedulously  culti- 
vated; and  that  is  the  class  consciousness  of  the  middle 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASS  AS  THE  DOCTOR      1 93 

class.  Every  one  of  us  needs  to  know  who's  who  in  the 
middle  class,  and  what  we  stand  for;  which  side  our 
bread  is  buttered  on,  and  what  to  do  about  it.  In  other 
words,  we  need  to  have  class  ideals  and  a  class  program. 
That  program  should  be,  by  economic  reforms,  by  an 
educational  forward  movement,  and  by  a  moral  and 
spiritual  renascence,  to  strengthen  the  middle  class  and 
draw  everybody  into  it.  That  program  needs  to  be 
talked  about  in  private  conversations ;  it  should  be  the 
topic  of  intelligent  discussion  in  innumerable  groups 
organized  for  that  express  purpose;  it  ought  to  be 
explained  in  print,  preached  from  the  pulpit,  and  taught 
in  the  schools.  In  fact  the  time  has  come  for  us  middle 
class  folks  to  take  possession  of  all  the  agencies  for 
molding  public  opinion,  and  put  on  a  definitely  organ- 
ized propaganda.  Every  American  should  be  made 
definitely  aware  of  this  middle  class  program.  And  we 
ourselves  of  the  middle  class  should  feel  a  burning 
loyalty  to  it,  and  draw  brave  confidence  from  the  assur- 
ance that  we  constitute  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  American  people. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC    DETERMINISM 

THE  socialists  pin  their  faith  to  a  philosophical 
fallacy  quite  similar  to  that  which  seduced  the 
Germans  into  their  insane  ambition  for  world 
conquest.  In  order  to  make  clear  the  socialistic  fallacy 
it  may  be  worth  while,  for  the  sake  of  comparison,  to 
review  the  German  fallacy. 

The  Germans  lost  their  heads  over  the  doctrine  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The  struggle  for  existence 
and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  really  do  look  like  a  uni- 
versal law  of  nature.  It  is  a  ruthless  struggle,  a  fight 
for  life  in  which  the  strong  win  and  the  weak  are 
weeded  out.  On  this  law  the  Germans  proceeded, 
having  first  made  themselves,  as  they  believed,  the 
strongest. 

Their  fallacy  was  in  assuming  that  the  fightest  are 
always  the  fittest.  As  one  surveys  the  past,  especially 
the  remote  past,  with  its  "monsters  of  the  prime  that 
tear  each  other  in  their  slime,"  the  survival  of  the 
fightest  does  look  like  universal  law.  But  as  one  looks 
forward  to  "that  far  off  divine  event  toward  which  the 
whole  creation  moves,"  it  ceases  to  be  law  at  all.  In  its 
place  looms  the  survival  of  the  most  cooperative.  In 
social  evolution  there  seems  to  have  been  a  shift  in  the 
gear  of  nature ;  fangs  and  fists  are  a  vanishing  advan- 
tage, and  mutual  help  is  the  new  order.    The  Germans 

194 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM        195 

undertook  to  force  the  machinery  back  into  the  old 
gear,  but  it  was  too  late.  The  peoples  of  the  world 
united  in  what  they  hoped  was  a  war  to  put  cooperation 
firmly  on  its  feet  as  an  international  policy.  To  be 
sure  the  new  cooperative  order  has  not  fully  arrived 
yet ;  but  it  is  clearly  coming. 

The  philosophical  fallacy  of  the  socialists  is  similar, 
indeed  it  is  closely  related  to  this  fallacy  of  the  Ger- 
mans. They  call  their  theory  economic  determinism. 
Economic  determinism  means  that  industry  is  cause, 
and  practically  everything  else  in  human  life  and  society 
are  effects.  The  economic  determinist,  in  accounting 
for  negro  slavery  and  the  Civil  War  in  America,  rules 
out  the  influence  of  ideals,  and  points  instead  to  such 
economic  causes  as  the  cotton  gin  and  its  effects  upon 
the  growth  of  the  cotton  industry.  Political  theories, 
theological  creeds  and  .moral  ideals  he  regards  as  the 
by-products  of  the  economic  institution.  In  telling  the 
story  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  the  economic  de- 
terminist *  dwells  chiefly  on  such  economic  considera- 
tions as  the  grievances  of  the  German  peasants.  Theo- 
logical issues  he  regards  as  effects  rather  than  causes. 
The  economic  determinist  regards  our  public  schools 
and  universities  as  the  agents  of  our  industrial  system; 
and  teachers  as  "pale  parasites"  of  the  entrepreneurs. 
The  change  in  primitive  times  from  the  hunting-fishing 
form  of  industry  to  the  agriculture-handicraft  form, 
with  its  consequent  effects  on  all  other  phases  of  the 
social  life,2  is  the  economic  determinist's  stock  illus- 
tration. 

As   economic    determinist    your    Marxian    socialist 

^eabohn,  "The  Protestant  Revolt." 
3  Seabohn,  "The  Protestant  Revolt." 


I96        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

turns  prophet.  He  predicts  that  the  change  from  the 
handicraft  to  the  machinofacture  type  of  industry  is  an 
economic  cause  predestined  to  bring  about  revolution- 
ary changes  in  all  departments  of  our  social  life;  but 
he  fails  to  see  that  spiritual  forces  can  pilot  the  ship 
through  the  rapids.  Capitalism,  which  machinofacture 
industry  has  produced,  he  predicts  will  cause  concen- 
tration of  wealth  and  class  stratification  until  the 
propertyless  class  finds  itself  overwhelmingly  in  the 
majority,  whereupon  it  will  quite  naturally  precipitate 
a  revolution  and  set  up  a  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat 
as  the  socialistic  Utopia.  What  he  fails  to  see  is  that 
by  intelligent  social  engineering  the  disasters  which 
lurk  behind  his  vain  dreams  can  be  prevented,  and  a 
real  Christian  democracy  evolved  out  of  the  present 
crisis. 

And  it  must  be  confessed  that  so  long  as  one  keeps 
his  face  turned  to  the  past  the  theory  looks  plausible. 
Especially  if  one  takes  only  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
main  outlines  of  history,  or  permits  the  economic  deter- 
minists  themselves  to  interpret  the  details.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  economic  forces  have,  of  course,  figured 
largely  in  social  evolution;  and  they  do  underly  the 
contemporary  readjustments  in  society. 

But  they  have  not  been  the  only  forces  by  any  means ; 
and  as  time  goes  on  they  are  destined  to  be  of  declining 
importance  relatively.  It  is  true  that  in  the  past 
spiritual  forces  have  been  minor  forces,  frail  begin- 
nings, flickering  promises,  albeit  growing  gradually. 
But  civilization  has  now  at  last  accumulated  enormous 
intellectual  resources  in  natural  science,  social  science, 
education,  art,  ethical  codes,  religious  faith  and  social 
idealism.  Out  of  these  we  can  generate  sufficient  power, 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM       197 

if  we  will,  to  make  the  wheels  go  round.  These  spiritual 
resources  are  predestined  to  be  cooperatively  utilized  to 
lift  the  race  above  the  mere  competitive  struggle  for 
bread.  Eventually  spiritual  determinants  will  control 
and  utilize  economic  determinants,  as  mind  controls 
and  utilizes  the  power  of  steam.  Has  not  the  time 
arrived  to  shift  the  gear  ?    The  socialists  think  not ! 

Let  us  introduce  a  term  from  the  technical  vocabulary 
of  social  science,  for  the  sake  of  the  idea  it  carries. 
The  term  is  telic.  The  nearest  equivalent  in  ordinary 
English  is  purposive.  A  telic  society  is  a  society  in 
which  the  people  of  one  generation,  through  their  in- 
tellectual leaders,  blue  print  the  remodeled  institutions 
for  the  next  generation,  and  then  proceed  to  build  them 
according  to  the  blue  print.  A  telic  society  is  one  in 
which  the  best  brains  and  heart  decide  beforehand  what 
the  course  of  social  evolution  ought  to  be,  and  then  lead 
it  thither.  Societies  save  enormous  human  waste  and 
suffering  by  being  telic;  but  telic  they  have  never  been 
as  yet  to  any  great  degree,  because  they  have  never  been 
spiritually  determined. 

If  our  society  is  to  become  spiritually  determined,  we 
must  begin  to  predetermine  it  with  our  spirits.  We 
must  do  something  more  than  vehemently  to  command 
the  tide  of  economic  forces  to  retreat.  Instead  we  must 
set  ourselves  intelligently  and  resolutely  to  the  task  of 
putting  spiritual  forces  into  control.  We  must  study 
social  science  diligently  and  induce  everybody  else  to 
study  it,  we  must  regenerate  our  morals  and  win 
through  to  a  new  faith,  we  must  quadruple  the  work 
of  our  schools  in  the  next  twenty-five  years,  and  we 
must  put  art  at  the  disposal  of  all  for  purposes  of 
recreation  and  inspiration.     For  spiritual  forces  can 


I98        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

never  turn  the  wheels  of  modern  life  so  long  as  they 
are  out  of  gear. 

Can  you  imagine  what  the  effect  would  be  if  a  re- 
ligious awakening  could  sweep  over  the  country,  as 
fervid  as  that  which  prompted  the  Crusades,  but  one 
that  would  set  up  social  justice  and  personal  righteous- 
ness as  the  Holy  Sepulcher  to  be  rescued?  Can  you 
imagine  what  the  effect  would  be  if  all  high  schools 
were  modernized  to  teach  vocations,  citizenship,  and, 
for  girls,  the  art  and  science  of  home  keeping,  and  if 
90  per  cent  of  our  young  people  graduated  from  them  ? 
Can  you  imagine  the  result  of  making  good  music, 
good  movies,  good  dramas,  good  books  and  good 
sports  so  easily  accessible  to  all  that  degrading  amuse- 
ments could  not  compete  with  them  ?  Can  you  conjec- 
ture the  consequences  of  measurably  solving  the  prob- 
lem of  moral  education?  Can  you  imagine  what  would 
happen  if  we  all  knew  enough  about  monopolies,  taxa- 
tion, immigration  and  a  dozen  other  economic  problems 
so  that  a  "kept  press"  could  no  longer  humbug  us  at 
will?  Can  you  imagine  combining  all  these  spiritual 
forces  and  getting  them  all  set  up  together  as  a  going 
concern  within  a  generation?  If  you  can  imagine  all 
that  you  will  imagine  a  new  world  in  which  economic 
determinants  would  be  a  declining  factor. 

And  can  we  do  it,  middle  class  brothers?  If  we 
can,  there  never  will  be  any  "Bolshevism"  in  America. 
Otherwise  there  may  be;  in  which  tragic  event  our 
grandsons  would  hold  us  morally  responsible  for  not 
preventing  it ! 

But  be  warned,  that  increasing  hordes  of  socialists 
grin  cynically  at  this  appeal  to  the  middle  class;  for 
they  are  perfectly  certain  that  we  are  too  smug  and 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC    DETERMINISM        1 99 

dense,  to  respond.  And  perhaps  we  are;  who  knows? 
But  certain  it  is  that,  being  the  heirs  of  all  the  ages,  we 
do  have  spiritual  resources  at  our  disposal  which,  if 
utilized,  would  turn  the  current  of  history  out  of  its 
accustomed  channel,  and  put  to  confusion  all  socialistic 
expectations.  If  only  the  middle  class  can  be  awakened ! 
When  we  get  to  the  very  core  of  the  social  problem 
in  America  it  boils  down  to  this,  that  nearly  all  of  us 
fall  in  with  the  socialists  in  the  fundamental  fallacy 
underlying  their  theory  of  economic  determinism.  For, 
as  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter  II,  the  heart,  not  the 
head,  is  the  ultimate  source  of  social  theories.  The 
fundamental  heresy  of  the  socialists  is  one  of  the 
heart;  it  consists  in  putting  one's  faith  in  material 
wealth  rather  than  in  spiritual  weal.  And  is  not  that  a 
sin  of  which  we  are  all  equally  guilty  ?  Do  not  socialists 
at  the  left,  and  capitalists  at  the  right,  and  we  ourselves 
in  the  middle,  bow  down  before  the  golden  calf?  If 
one's  heart  is  set  on  material  goods  it  only  remains  for 
him  to  have  them  not,  and  he  is  a  ready  convert  to 
socialism.  The  Haves  are  against  socialism  not  so 
much  because  their  hearts  are  nearer  right  than  the 
Have-nots;  but  because  their  pockets  are  fuller.  In 
their  heart  of  hearts  the  Haves  and  the  Have-nots  have 
both  gone  astray  together.  The  essential  heresy  is  the 
worship  of  mammon,  whether  that  spiritual  disorder 
shows  up  as  rabid  socialism,  aggressive  capitalistic 
greed,  or  the  smug  selfishness  and  blind  conservatism 
of  the  middle  class.  The  hearts  of  all  of  us  are  in  the 
wrong  gear.  We  must  return  together  to  the  insight 
that,  after  one  has  enough  of  the  elemental  necessities, 
life  is  then  enriched  not  by  more  of  them,  but  by  the 
mutual  enjoyment  of  the  cultural  heritage.    Every  man 


200        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

to  whose  soul  this  great  truth  does  not  appeal  is  himself 
generating  the  divisive  forces  that  threaten  to  disrupt 
society. 

When  a  traveler  comes  to  a  fork  in  the  road,  if  his 
destination  is  on  the  right  fork  he  will  never  arrive  by 
keeping  to  the  left.  But  that  is  exactly  what  the  whole 
modern  world  has  done.  We  have  gone  wrong  on  the 
dollar  theory  of  life.  Wealth,  the  production  of  wealth, 
the  distribution  of  wealth — these  are  the  phrases  we 
mouth  and  reecho,  as  if  they  were  the  magic  word. 
But  we  are  wrong,  dead  wrong.  Every  man  seeks 
happiness  through  ever  more  strenuous  efforts  to  get 
wealth;  but  the  wealth  seldom  brings  the  happiness. 
We  seek  our  national  destiny  in  "prosperity";  and 
having  piled  up  "prosperity"  mountain  high,  we  have 
the  social  unrest  for  our  pains.  The  nations  race  for 
"a  place  in  the  sun"  ;  and  the  present  world  chaos  is  the 
result.  We  did  fight,  it  is  true,  to  make  the  world  safe 
for  political  democracy;  but  would  to  God  there  were 
no  grain  of  truth  in  the  socialists'  challenge  that  it  was 
a  war  of  capitalistic  greed.  It  was  even  more  true  that 
capitalistic  greed  (along  with  nationalistic  chauvinism) 
spoiled  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  and  thwarted  the 
League  of  Nations.  We  are  on  the  wrong  track;  and 
the  reform  of  reforms  is  to  find  it  out. 

As  health  is  a  necessary  foundation  for  happiness,  so 
wealth  is  only  a  "means"  to  the  real  ends  of  life.  A 
man's  life  consisteth  not  alone  in  the  abundance  of  the 
material  things  which  he  possesseth,  and  neither  does  a 
nation's.  The  real  goods  of  human  life  are  spiritual. 
They  are  represented  not  by  the  market,  but  by  the 
home,  the  church,  the  school,  and  the  open  spaces  of 
nature.    They  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  possession  of 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM       201 

money  alone,  but  in  the  arts,  the  crafts,  and  the  recrea- 
tions. The  true  values  of  life  are  in  friends,  fireside, 
faith,  a  clear  conscience,  peace  of  mind,  wholesome 
leisure,  constructive  work,  justifiable  pride  in  one's 
sons  and  daughters,  a  place  in  the  community  life,  and 
rootage  in  the  soil.  These  represent  the  welfare 
which  many  are  ruthlessly  and  needlessly  denied,  and 
which  many  others  blindly  squander  for  that  which  is 
of  much  less  worth.  These  means  of  happiness  must 
be  more  evenly  accessible  to  all ;  and  that  is  dependent, 
not  only  upon  a  better  circulation  of  wealth,  but  upon  a 
better  distribution  of  the  cultural  goods  of  civilization 
as  well.  Intelligence  and  morality  are  the  ultimate  de- 
terminants of  both  the  production  and  distribution  of 
wealth.  The  forms  of  liberty  are  not  its  vital  features  ; 
true  democracy  is  that  of  the  mind  and  heart.  If  we 
would  make  democracy  safe  for  the  world  we  must 
concern  ourselves  about  its  spiritual  foundations. 

Food  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of 
life.  If  food  is  hard  to  procure  almost  the  entire 
energy  of  life  may  well  be  devoted  to  procuring  it. 
But  then,  if  easier  times  come,  the  food  habit  is  liable 
to  be  overdone.  Having  had  food  enough,  would 
more  food  take  the  place  of  clothing  and  shelter?  If 
one  needs  fresh  air  and  exercise,  a  heavy  meal  would 
hardly  serve  as  a  substitute.  Especially  would  more 
food  fail  to  satisfy  the  vague  cravings  of  the  spirit. 
If  one  has  neither  love  nor  faith,  let  him  make  up  the 
lack  by  feasting  richly !  If  one  lacks  the  joy  of  creative 
achievement  or  loyal  service,  let  him  stuff  himself  with 
hearty  food!  If  one  is  lonely,  or  over-worked,  or 
grief-stricken,  or  ignorant,  il  one  feels  some  vague 
sense  of  lack,  or  the  dull  pain  of  having  missed  the  joy 


202        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

of  life,  the  remedy  is  to  eat  and  eat  and  eat!  Substi- 
tute wealth  for  food  in  the  above  sentences  and  you 
have  the  keystone  fallacy  of  our  social  lives.  It  makes 
all  our  institutions  fat,  and  is  the  fundamental  cause  of 
our  periodical  business  depressions. 

The  "economic  man"  figured  conspicuously  in  the 
old  economics.  His  interests  were  as  single  as  a  cor- 
poration's; he  had  no  other  wants  but  wages,  rent, 
interest  or  profits.  But  he  was  only  a  fiction  of  the 
imagination,  the  mere  fraction  of  a  human  being. 
Psychology,  especially  the  Freudian  psychology,  is  now 
compelling  the  rewriting  of  economic  theory.  Eco- 
nomics is  now  recognizing  the  real  man,  with  his  whole 
cycle  of  needs,  physical,  mental,  moral  and  spiritual,  all 
of  which  are  insistent.  If  these  elemental  "wishes"  of 
human  nature  are  normally  satisfied,  all  is  well;  if  they 
are  thwarted,  they  generate  discontentment  which,  like 
a  pent-up  gas,  is  bound  sooner  or  later  to  explode  with 
disastrous  social  results.  In  this  way  strikes  are  ex- 
plained ;  they  are  the  emotional  discharge  caused  by  an 
industrial  life  that  thwarts  many  of  the  essential  needs 
of  human  nature. 

A  posthumous  book  by  Carleton  Parker  expounds 
this  theory  very  interestingly.  But  his  remedy  is  very 
unmatured :  unlimited  freedom  for  adventurous  ex- 
periment. This  is  an  all  too  current  fallacy.  It  is  the 
parlor  "Bolshevism"  of  the  half  baked  intellectual. 
What  the  human  spirit  really  needs  is  not  so  much  to 
experiment  as  to  feed  upon  the  culture  that  has  been 
produced  by  the  cumulative  experiments  of  a  quarter 
million  years.  It  is  to  satisfy  the  varied  needs  of 
human  nature  that  civilization  has  been  built  up.  Man- 
soul  has  slowly  woven  itself  a  garment:  not  to  let  him 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM       203 

experiment  with  the  garment,  but  to  let  him  wear  it,  is 
the  cure  for  the  industrial  unrest. 

Are  there  the  beautiful  fabrics  of  art,  science  and 
faith?     Permit  the  laboring  man  to  clothe  his  spirit 
with  these !    Are  there  social  gymnasia  where  his  mind 
may  get  industrial,  political,  social,  domestic,  artistic, 
intellectual  and  religious  exercises?    Admit  him  to  the 
games !     Are  there  a  thousand  projects  for  his  con- 
structive impulses?     Then  do  not  expect  him  to  be 
satisfied  as  a  mere  cog  in  the  machine,  however  lib- 
erally waged.     A  beast  lives  mostly  below  the  dia- 
phragm; but  a  man  lives  mostly  from  the  ears  up. 
Equip  all  men,  therefore,  to  use,  for  a  complete  human 
life,  all  the  materials  of  culture,  as  they  have  been  pro- 
duced by  social  evolution,  and  are  available  in  all  the 
spiritual  wealth  of  civilization.     The  man  of  the  new 
super-civilization  must  be  fed  upon  a  balanced  ration; 
not  on  wealth-stuff  alone.     Not  otherwise  will  there 
ever  be  a  new  super-civilization  at  all.     The  founda- 
tions of  the  new  social  order  are  spiritual.    It  is  neces- 
sary for  us  to  make  the  sort  of  readjustments  in  our 
industrial  relations  that  have  been   suggested   in  the 
foregoing  portions  of  this  book;  but  that  in  itself  will 
fail  of  the  social  results  we  desire  unless  we  also  culti- 
vate our  spiritual  resources  as  suggested  in  the  re- 
mainder of  the  book. 

The  preachers  have  told  us,  time  out  of  mind,  that 
man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone;  but  we  have  never 
taken  the  preachers  seriously  on  this  point.  Neverthe- 
less they  are  profoundly  right  about  it;  though  they 
often  discount  their  advice  by  getting  it  so  out  of  focus 
as  to  imply  that  we  can  get  along  without  bread  alto- 
gether.    The  poor  are  short  of  bread,  beef,  housing, 


204        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

clothes  and  coal,  it  is  true.     These  necessities  of  life 
must  be  made  up  to  them ;  but  there  are  other  necessi- 
ties also,  such  as  those  afforded  by  homes,  churches, 
schools,  libraries,  theaters,  art  galleries,  parks,  com- 
munity centers,  and  other  like  public  agencies;    and 
society  should  proceed  at  once  to  furnish  these  also  in 
abundance.     The  rich,  aside  from  the  necessities  of 
physical  life,  are  often  as  bad  off  as  the  poor.     They 
spend  their  surplus  in  many  instances  for  material  lux- 
uries far  beyond  the  point  of  diminishing  returns.    The 
difference  between  the  cost  of  a  Ford  and  a  Pierce- 
Arrow,    for   instance,   yields   less   than   proportionate 
returns  in  the  joys  of  life;  and  too  much  of  what 
additional  returns  it  does  yield  are  mere  gratification 
of  the  unwholesome  instincts  of  rivalry.     Why  do  we 
not  envy  instead  the  neighbor  who  gets  joy  out  of  his 
Bach,  his  Beethoven  and  his  Brahms?    A  ten  cent  rose 
bud  on  the  breakfast  table  is  as  good  as  five  dollars' 
worth,  unless  what  one  really  wants  is  to  show  off 
how  much  he  can  afford  to  spend   for  cut  flowers. 
Envy  is  a  dangerous  thing  in  a  democracy;  the  social 
unrest  is  three-sevenths  envy. 

Have  you  pondered  over  the  way  your  neighbor, 
Mr.  Smith,  furnishes  his  living  rooms,  as  contrasted 
with  the  furniture  of  Mr.  Jones?  Mr.  Smith  has 
bookcases  filled  with  cheap  but  well-worn  copies  of  the 
best  books  both  recent  and  standard.  But  the  book- 
cases are  old.  There  is  also  an  old,  badly  scarred 
piano;  but  beside  it  is  a  home-made  case  full  of  old, 
paper  volumes  of  the  great  German  music  masters.  On 
the  piano  are  a  flute,  a  violin,  and  a  cornet,  while  an  old 
'cello  stands  in  the  corner;  every  one  of  which  instru- 
ments is  used  by  members  of  the  family.     The  walls 


SPIRITUAL   VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM       205 

are  fairly  crowded  with  inexpensive  copies  of  master- 
pieces, and  with  the  faces  of  philosophers,  artists, 
writers  and  other  great  men.  In  the  center  of  the 
living  room  is  an  old-fashioned  walnut  dining  table, 
with  a  chenile  cover;  on  this  table  lie  two  Bibles,  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  the  Scientific  American,  the  Youth's 
Companion,  the  Sunday  School  Journal,  and  a  base- 
ball mitt.  There  is  an  old  cabinet  full  of  Indian  relics 
and  geological  specimens.  The  carpets  are  rag  rugs, 
and  the  davenport  evidently  came  from  the  manual 
training  department  of  the  high  school. 

At  Mr.  Jones's  things  are  different.  There  is  a  new 
grand  piano,  a  shiny  piano  seat,  and  a  few  pieces  of 
the  latest  popular  music.  The  rugs  are  all  Persian,  and 
the  oak  floor  is  polished.  There  is  a  mahogany  book- 
case filled  with  new,  leather  backed  sets  of  Thackeray, 
Dumas,  Stoddard,  and  the  "Best  Orations,"  but  evi- 
dently never  read.  The  picture  frames  are  massive  and 
expensive,  but  the  pictures  themselves  signify  nothing. 
On  the  heavy  oak  table  there  is  a  dainty  little  Persian 
rug,  and  the  colored  supplement  of  the  Sunday  paper. 
Through  the  dining  room  door  one  catches  a  glimpse  of 
sparkling  glass  and  shining  silver.  There  is  one  child 
at  Jones's,  but  at  Smith's  there  are  five.  And  yet  it  is 
the  Joneses  we  all  envy;  and  that  is  the  root  of  the 
social  unrest.  For  if  we  all  wanted  chiefly  the  things 
the  Smiths  enjoy,  we  should  want  everybody  to  share 
them ;  whereas  the  Joneses'  tastes  are  divisive. 

Sociologists  regard  social  homogeneity  as  a  funda- 
mental necessity.  A  community  has  common  interests ; 
if  there  is  no  community  of  interest  there  is  no  com- 
munity. Where  people  differ  sharply  in  race,  creed, 
language,  industries,  education,  wealth,  and  ideals  there 


206        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

is  social  "splitteration,"  instead  of  social  "stick-to- 
gether-ation,"  to  borrow  a  parody  on  Spencer.  The 
we- feeling  depends  upon  ideas,  sentiments  and  prac- 
tices in  common ;  and  hence  it  follows  that  the  way  to 
blend  us  all  together  into  a  great  all-inclusive,  kindred- 
minded  middle  class  is  to  make  us  all  participants  to- 
gether in  the  common  treasures  of  the  intellectual, 
ethical  and  cultural  heritage  of  the  race. 

Some  of  the  most  important  means  of  happiness, 
welfare  and  the  joy  of  life  that  ought  to  be  made  easily 
accessible  to  all  the  people  are  health,  recreation,  plenty 
of  good  schooling,  art,  family  life,  morals  and  religion. 
These  are  the  real  values  of  existence;  the  substances 
out  of  which  the  we-feeling  can  weave  a  fabric.  For 
these  interests  are  the  only  kind  of  interests  upon  which 
there  is  any  hope  of  our  all  uniting.  Our  work  de- 
mands division  of  labor  and  specialization.  As  for  the 
use  of  luxuries,  there  can  be  no  kindred  feeling  there. 
Luxuries  are  chiefly  desired  as  badges  of  artificial  dif- 
ferences; moreover,  they  do  not  satisfy,  and  hence  can 
no  more  unite  us  than  the  half  truths  of  creeds;  and 
besides  there  are  not  enough  luxuries  to  go  around. 
But  the  really  good  things  of  the  intellectual,  esthetic 
and  moral  life,  when  once  attained,  do  satisfy;  and 
instinctively  we  want  everybody  else  to  enjoy  them 
with  us,  because  their  value  to  ourselves  is  thereby 
enhanced.  Where  these  interests  are  there  is  neither 
Bohemian,  Syrian,  Wop  or  Hun,  but  we  are  all  one  in 
a  common  culture. 

In  the  matter  of  harmony,  good  will,  and  unity  of 
purpose  a  nation  is  not  unlike  a  family,  and  the  social 
problem  not  unlike  the  boy  problem.  The  Jenkins 
family  is  a  case  in  point.     George  was  a  typical  high- 


SPIRITUAL  VERSUS   ECONOMIC   DETERMINISM       20J 

school  "Chollie-boy"  of  seventeen,  and  Mr.  Jenkins  a 
typical,   middle-aged,   busy-man,   with   adipose  tissue. 
Between    them    there    were    strained    relations.      The 
issues  pertained  to  the  family  income,  and  George's  use 
of  it;  to  the  household  schedule,  and  George's  adjust- 
ment to  it;  to  George's  own  future,  and  his  attitude 
toward  preparation   for  it;  indeed,   to  George's  very 
life,  whether  or  not  it  was  to  be  wrecked  on  the  rocks 
of   adolescence,   and   leave    for  himself   and    for   his 
parents  in  their  old  age  nothing  but  the  debris  of  what 
might  have  been.    Thus  the  issues  between  George  and 
his  father,  like  the  issues  between  capital  and  labor, 
were  vital,  irreconcilable,  matters  of  life  and  death. 
And  the  points  of  view  were  diametrical,  the  situation 
ominously  and  tragically  contentious.     A  break  was 
imminent.     "My  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Jenkins,  "you  were 
a  successful  father  so  long  as  George  was  a  little  boy; 
but   you   are  a   failure  now   that   he   is   adolescent." 
Which  cost  Mr.  Jenkins  a  night's  sleep !    But  the  next 
time  George  wanted  seventeen  cents  for  a  movie  his 
father  said,  "Sure,  I  guess  I'll  go  with  you."     George 
survived  the  shock !    The  following  Saturday  they  saw 
a  league  game  together.     The  ball  hit  the  bull.     The 
next  week  George  and  his  father  took  a  four-days' 
fishing  trip  and  fried  the  fish.     For  odd  times  in  camp 
Mr.  Jenkins  took  along  "Anna  Karenina"  and  George 
"Tom  Sawyer."    Each  read  both.    Driving  home  they 
discovered  that  they  could  sing  nicely  together,  "Seeing 
Nellie  Home,"  "Ja-da"  and  "A  Thousand  Years  My 
Own  Columbia."    The  next  Sunday  George  responded 
to  his  mother's  invitation  to  accompany  her  and  his 
father  to  church.     And  so  things  went  on  at  the  Jen- 
kinses'.    Nor  were  the  issues  evaded:  they  actually 


208        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

solved  themselves!  That  was  nine  years  ago,  and  the 
firm  name  is  now  Jenkins  &  Son. 

It  might  turn  out  that  way  with  the  classes  and  the 
masses,  if  we  all  thought  less  about  business,  and  set 
our  hearts  together  on  the  really  satisfying  ends  of  life, 
as  did  the  Jenkinses,  father  and  son.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  in  short,  that  even  in  our  attempt  to  solve  the 
social  problem  we  devote  an  altogether  disproportionate 
amount  of  anxiety  to  the  question  of  wealth  and  its 
distribution.  It  is  true  that  this  is  an  absolutely  essen- 
tial element  in  our  problem ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  the 
only  element.  The  spiritual  means  of  happiness  and 
social  peace  are  quite  as  necessary  as  the  material ;  and 
the  masses  can  neither  secure,  maintain,  nor  put  to 
advantage  a  larger  income  unless  their  inner  wants  are 
refined.  Even  fifteen  dollars  a  day  would  not  make 
men  out  of  some  fellows.  Our  people,  rich  and  poor, 
are  straining  every  nerve  to  produce  wealth,  and  are 
quarreling  over  its  distribution;  and  in  our  failure  to 
be  satisfied  we  strain  our  nerves  the  harder  for  more 
wealth.  What  we  need,  in  many  cases,  is  not  more 
wealth,  but  more  of  the  kinds  of  happiness  that  wealth 
can  never  buy.  We  are  like  anemic  school  children, 
fed  chiefly  on  candy,  pickles,  coffee  and  summer  sau- 
sage. Malnutrition  has  perverted  their  appetites  till 
they  crave  only  more  and  more  of  the  false  foods  that 
are  slowly  starving  them.  Except  in  the  case  of  the 
very  poor  the  worth  of  many  lives  might  well  be  doub- 
led without  an  increase  of  income  at  all.  The  present 
social  unrest  is  essentially  a  spiritual  unrest.  The  cause 
is  our  failure  to  understand  our  own  needs. 

Civilization  has  been  tragically  slow  in  realizing  that 
its  foundations  are  really  spiritual.     But  they  are!     It 


SPIRITUAL  VERSUS  ECONOMIC  DETERMINISM       20O, 

is  increasingly  recognized  that  the  most  important 
thing  about  a  people  is  their  philosophy  of  life.  The 
economic  theory  of  history  is  on  the  wane.  We  now 
see  that  spiritual  causes  have  been  coordinate  with 
industrial  causes  in  social  evolution.  The  difference  in 
ideals,  quite  as  much  as  the  difference  in  climate,  soil 
and  agriculture,  made  colonial  Virginia  slave  and  Mas- 
sachusetts free.  There  is  a  newly  awakening  apprecia- 
tion on  the  part  of  historians  of  the  moral  contributions 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews  and  the  intellectual  and  esthetic 
contributions  of  the  ancient  Greeks  to  the  foundations 
of  modern  civilization.  The  spiritual  and  intellectual 
aspects  of  social  evolution  now  interest  sociologists  no 
less  than  the  political  and  industrial.  The  enormous 
dinosaurs  and  the  huge  mammals  of  bygone  geological 
ages  gave  way  before  smaller  creatures  with  more  finely 
organized  nervous  systems.  Not  muscle  but  brain  is 
more  and  more  becoming  the  determining  factor  in  the 
evolution  not  only  of  life  but  of  society  as  well.  In  the 
long  run  right  makes  might  and  knowledge  is  always 
power.  The  thinker  is,  as  Rodin  has  so  forcibly  sug- 
gested, the  most  imposing  personality;  and  the  just  and 
cooperative  are  certain  eventually  to  inherit  the  earth. 
As  evolution  progresses  mere  physical  forces  recede 
into  the  background,  and  the  forces  of  the  intellect  and 
conscience  come  to  the  fore.  It  will  be  far  more  so 
than  ever  in  the  new  super-civilization  that  we  trust  is 
about  to  emerge.  Intelligence  and  morality  will  have  a 
large  place  in  the  new  democracy ;  else  there  will  be  no 
new  democracy  at  all.  Whether  in  Mexico,  Russia, 
the  Philippines,  or  the  United  States,  self-government 
depends  for  its  success  upon  the  intelligence  and  moral- 
ity of  the  people.     The  problems  now  confronting  us 


2IO        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

are  at  bottom  spiritual  problems.  We  need,  it  is  true, 
new  laws  defining  the  rights  of  labor,  new  regulations 
for  the  control  of  capital,  reforms  in  our  system  of 
taxation;  but  these  are  all  on  the  surface  of  things. 
No  reform  or  revolution  can  be  either  successful  or 
permanent  unless  it  revolutionizes  the  thinking,  reforms 
the  morals  and  regenerates  the  aims  of  the  people 
themselves.  Our  deepest  need  of  all  is  for  a  new  ideal 
of  life. 

The  ancient  Hebrews  produced  a  unique  line  of 
spiritual  geniuses,  the  last  of  whom  was  the  greatest  of 
all.  The  western  world  has  honored  him  by  deifying 
him.  He  uttered  some  epigrams  of  remarkable  in- 
sight. Said  he  in  substance :  a  man  shall  not  live  by 
wealth  and  power  alone,  but  by  discovering  every  pur- 
pose and  obeying  every  law  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
thought  of  God;  the  worth  of  a  man's  life  consisteth 
not  in  the  amount  of  property  he  owns;  it  profiteth  a 
man  little  or  nothing  to  gain  the  whole  world  if  he  lose 
the  spiritual  values  out  of  his  life.  It  is  safe  to  assume 
that  these  sayings  are  as  true  of  a  whole  nation  as  of  a 
single  man.  The  western  world  will  do  well  to  honor 
this  great  spiritual  genius  by  believing  him!  Not 
otherwise  may  we  hope  to  cure  the  social  unrest.  We, 
the  so-called  Christian  peoples  of  the  western  world, 
are  in  trouble  chiefly  because  at  heart  we  are  still 
pagans  and  not  yet  Christians  at  all. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    OLD    FASHIONED,    MIDDLE    CLASS    IDEALS 

IT  is  sometimes  demanded  of  one  to  define  the 
middle  class.  The  demand  is  usually  made  by 
class  conscious  persons  whose  social  philosophy 
finds  little  or  no  place  for  a  middle  class.  This  socialis- 
tic attitude  of  mind  toward  the  middle  class  has  already 
been  referred  to;  it  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  plea 
of  this  book,  viz. :  that  there  is  no  room  in  a  democratic 
society  for  anything  but  a  middle  class.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  we  in  this  country  are  in  no  little 
danger  of  a  class  conflict.  But  obviously,  if  there  were 
no  classes  there  could  be  no  class  conflict.  Obviously, 
also,  if  we  could  abolish  sharp  class  distinctions,  we 
should  abolish  the  danger.  And  this  is  not  impossible ! 
The  cure  for  the  social  unrest  is  therefore  for  every- 
body, "proletariat"  at  the  left,  and  "plutocrat"  at  the 
right,  to  get  into  the  middle  class.  But  to  a  person  of 
socialistic  prejudices  no  definition  of  the  middle  class 
would  be  satisfactory  which  did  not  imply  its  eventual 
disintegration  and  absorption  into  the  other  classes; 
and  such  a  definition  would  be  unsatisfactory  to  the 
persons  whom  this  book  is  addressed  to. 

This  book  is  addressed  to  persons  who  regard  them- 
selves as  one  hundred  per  cent  American,  and  who  look 
back  with  pride  and  reverence  to  parents,  grandparents 
and  a  whole  line  of  ancestry   (it  matters  little  when 

211 


212        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

they  set  foot  on  these  shores)  who  cherished  the  plain, 
old  fashioned  virtues  that  have  always  been  the  back- 
bone of  any  stable  orderly  society,  and  that  always  will 
be,  if  society  is  to  have  any  backbone  at  all.  These  vir- 
tues are  the  essential  thing;  it  is  in  terms  of  them  that 
the  middle  class  is  to  be  defined. 

In  the  flux  and  confusion  of  these  transitional  times 
the  fundamental  virtues  have  become  the  objects  of 
flippant  skepticism,  doubt  and  disregard.  Few  minds 
are  capable  of  intelligent  discrimination,  especially  in 
the  social  field.  There  are  so  many  things  that  need 
changing  that  the  people  who  want  them  changed  be- 
come obsessed  with  the  idea  of  change,  and  talk  about 
change  in  the  abstract  as  if  they  were  in  for  changing 
everything  under  the  sun.  On  the  other  hand  there  are 
so  many  things  which  ought  not  to  be  changed  at  all 
that  the  people  who  have  reasons  of  their  own  for 
wanting  nothing  changed  get  the  very  things  that  need 
no  change  into  bad  repute  by  hiding  the  things  that 
ought  to  be  changed  behind  them.  What  an  immense 
amount  of  energy  we  waste  in  accusing  each  other  of 
wanting  too  much  or  too  little  chance.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  quantity;  it  is  a  question  of  which,  and 
what,  and  why. 

What  are  the  things  that  need  reform?  The  social 
injustices  that  the  new  industrial  conditions  have  cre- 
ated— they  have  been  plainly  pointed  out  in  previous 
chapters.  What  are  the  things  that  it  will  do  only 
harm  to  change?  The  plain,  old  fashioned  moral  vir- 
tues :  reliability,  the  restraint  of  animalism,  steadiness 
of  endeavor,  and  ordinary  justice.  These  are  the  four 
virtues  essential  to  social  orderliness.1     If,  in  the  con- 

1  See  Hayes'  "Sociology,"  pp.  588  ff. 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    213 

fusion  and  uncertainty  of  the  times,  these  are  lost,  all 
will  be  lost.    No  reforms  can  compensate. 

"Why  be  good?"  bawl  some  radical  socialists;  to 
which  they  bray  out  their  own  blatant  infidelity,  that 
morality  is  only  a  cleverly  devised  system  by  which 
"wage  slaves"  are  kept  subject  to  the  exploitation  of 
the  "capitalist  class."  They  are  like  blinded  Samson 
pulling  the  temple  down  on  the  Philistines  and  him- 
self together. 

Nor  is  it  in  radical  circles  alone  that  this  pernicious 
skepticism  of  the  time-tried  moral  standards  is  current. 
The  epidemic  pervades  all  classes  of  society.  It  infects 
pedagogy  like  a  virus.  Family  discipline  is  breaking 
down  because  of  it.  Even  the  clergy  stutter.  The 
whole  rising  generation  is  at  sea  on  this  subject.  It  is 
one  of  the  ominous  signs  of  the  times. 

An  interesting  series  of  articles  ran  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  during  the  summer  of  1920.  In  the  first  one 
a  writer  who  signs  himself  "Mr.  Grundy"  complains  of 
the  lax  morals  of  the  young  folks.  He  rather  over- 
complains,  in  fact.  In  the  second  article  the  charge  is 
tacitly  seconded,  and  a  return  to  the  traditional  religion 
set  forth  as  the  remedy.  The  third  is  a  retort  by  one  of 
"those  wild  young  people."  This  writer  accuses  the 
older  generation,  through  their  "soft-headed  folly,"  of 
having  "pretty  well  ruined  this  world  before  passing  it 
on  to  us,  .  .  .  knocked  to  pieces,  leaky,  red-hot  and 
threatening  to  blow  up."  He  adds  that  the  young  peo- 
ple are,  as  a  result,  extremely  busy;  that  "what  pleasure 
they  snatch  must  be  .  .  .  feverishly  hurried"  and  that 
they  "haven't  time  for  the  noble  procrastinations  of 
modesty."  "We  drink  when  we  can  and  what  we  can, 
we  gamble  and  are  extravagant — but  we  work,  and 


214        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

that's  about  all  that  we  can  be  expected  to  do ;  for,  after 
all,  we  have  just  discovered  that  we  are  all  very  near  to 
the  Stone  Age."  Thus  the  young  man  evades  the 
question  entirely.  We  are  suffering,  it  is  true,  from 
"the  soft-headed  folly"  of  the  generation  just  past;  but 
their  soft-headedness  consisted  in  failure  to  understand 
the  new  machinofacture  situation.  Their  modesty, 
their  frugality,  their  honesty,  their  Presbyterian  con- 
scientiousness, were  not  soft-headed !  And  if  the  young 
people  make  their  fathers'  ignorance  of  the  social  prob- 
lem an  excuse  for  repudiating  their  fathers'  morality, 
they  will  pass  on  to  their  own  children  a  worse  mess 
instead  of  a  better.  As  was  long  since  observed : 
Easy  is  the  redescent  into  the  Stone  Age;  or  words  to 
that  effect. 

Perhaps  the  most  fundamental  of  all  the  moral  dis- 
eases of  the  present  crisis,  and  the  one  most  liable  to 
prove  fatal,  is  the  apostasy  to  a  soft  creed.  Not  a  hard 
life  but  a  soft  creed,  says  Professor  Peabody,  is  at  the 
heart  of  the  divorce  evil.  In  magazine  articles  and 
private  discussions  on  this  subject  the  happiness  of  the 
contracting  parties  is  the  basis  of  judgment,  not  the 
welfare  of  society.  In  pedagogical  theory  and  educa- 
tional practice,  the  doctrine  of  interest  is,  or  was  till 
very  recently,  the  fad  of  the  hour,  while  the  doctrine  of 
effort  was  in  sad  desuetude.  The  idea  of  teaching 
pupils  to  hold  their  noses  to  the  grindstone  till  they  take 
an  edge,  is  largely  a  thing  of  the  past.  We  are  already 
getting  the  result:  a  crop  of  young  people  who  regard 
the  hard  things  of  life  as  electives.  The  doctrine  is 
urged  at  mothers'  meetings  that  fear  ought  to  play  no 
part  in  the  training  of  children.  It  is  impossible  to 
convince  such  a  group  that  fear  has  played  a  dominant 


THE   OLD   FASHIONED,    MIDDLE    CLASS    IDEALS        21$ 

role  in  the  evolution  of  civilization ;  and  that  by  analogy 
therefore  it  is  unsafe  to  assume  that  sound  individual 
character  can  be  evolved  without  it.  In  all  fields  theory 
caters  to  self  indulgence.  The  "wish"  is  the  keynote  of 
the  Freudian  psychology.  Control  and  coercion  are 
regarded  as  inconsistent  in  democracies;  the  role  they 
have  played  in  social  evolution  is  almost  entirely 
ignored.  We  are  prone  to  imagine  that  a  democracy  is 
a  society  in  which  everybody  does  as  he  pleases !  Well, 
if  everybody  pleases  to  do  right  democracy  will  suc- 
ceed; if  everybody  chooses  easy  self  indulgence  democ- 
racy will  take  the  primrose  path  to  a  welter  of  universal 
Bolshevism.  To  expect  the  future  to  bring  forth  an 
ideal  democracy,  while  at  the  same  moment  we  are 
suffering  a  relapse  of  faith  in  the  ideal  of  personal  self 
restraint,  which  is  the  very  warp  of  civilization,  is  like 
taking  a  month's  holiday  in  harvest  time  or  like  sleep- 
ing in  the  trenches  at  the  enemy's  zero  hour.  In  the 
present  transition  there  is  need  for  more  self  denial,  not 
less;  much  more!  The  self  indulgence  of  the  middle 
class  in  America  is  wasting  the  nation's  birthright. 
Without  the  practice  of  a  hard  creed  we  can  never  cure 
the  social  unrest,  we  can  never  evolve  a  new  coopera- 
tive society. 

There  is  no  warning  of  which  the  present  age  is  more 
in  need  than  that  expressed  by  Kipling  in  the  following 
poem: 

THE  GODS  OF  THE  COPYBOOK  MAXIMS 

As  I  pass  through  my  incarnations  in  every  age  and  race, 
I  make  my  proper  prostrations  to  the  Gods  of  the  Market  Place ; 
Peering  through  reverent  fingers,  I  watch  them  flourish  and  fall, 
And  the  Gods  of  the  Copybook  Maxims,  I  notice,  outlast  them 
all. 


2l6        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

We  were  living  in  trees  when  they  met  us.     They  showed  us 

each  in  turn 
That  water  would  certainly  wet  us  as  Fire  would  certainly  burn ; 
But  we  found  them  lacking  in  uplift,  vision  and  breadth  of  mind, 
So  we  left  them  to  teach  Gorillas  while  we  followed  the  March 

of  Mankind. 

We  moved  as  the  Spirit  listed.    They  never  altered  their  pace, 
Being  neither  cloud  nor  wind  borne  like  the  Gods  of  the  Market 

Place, 
But  they  always  caught  up  with  our  progress,  and  usually  word 

would  come 
That  a  tribe  had  been  wiped  off  its  ice-field  or  Creation  crashed 

at  Rome. 

With  the  Hopes  that  our  World  is  built  on  they  were  utterly  out 

of  touch. 
They  denied  that  the  Moon  was   Stilton,  they  denied  she  was 

even  Dutch. 
They  denied  that  Wishes  were  horses ;  they  denied  that  a  Pig 

had  Wings. 
So  we  worshiped  the  Gods  of  the  Market  who  promised  these 

beautiful  things. 

On  the  first  Feminian  Sandstones  we  were  promised  the  Fuller 

Life, 
(Which  started  by  loving  our  neighbor  and  ended  by  loving  his 

wife) 
Till  our  women  had  no  more  children  and  the  men  lost  reason 

and  faith, 
And  the  Gods  of  the  Copybook  Maxims  said: — "The  Wages  of 

Sin  is  Death." 

In  the  Carboniferous  Epoch  we  were  promised  abundance  for  all, 

By  robbing  selective   Peter  to  pay  for  collective  Paul ; 

And,  though   we  had   plenty  of   money,  there  was  nothing  our 

money  would  buy. 
And  the  Gods  of  the  Copybook  Maxims  said : — "If  you  don't 

work  you  die." 

Then  the  Gods  of  the  Market  tumbled,  and  their  smooth-tongued 

Wizards  withdrew, 
And  the  hearts  of  the  meanest  were  humbled  and  began  to  believe 

it  was  true 
That  all  is  not  Gold  that  Glitters,  and  Two  and  Two  make  Four — 
And  the  Gods  of  the  Copybook  Maxims  limped  up  to  explain  it 

once  more. 

As  it  will  be  in  "The  Future,"  it  was  at  the  birth  of  Man — i 
There  are  only  four  things  certain  since  the  Larger   Primates 
began : 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    2lJ 

That  the  Dog  returns  to  his  Vomit  and  the  Sow  returns  to  her 

Mire, 
And  the  burnt  Fool's  bandaged  finger  goes  wabbling  back  to  the 

fire. 

And  after  this  is  accomplished,  and  the  brave  new  world  begins 
Where  all  men  insist  on  their  merits  and  no  one  desists  from 

his  sins, 
As  surely  as  water  will  wet  us,  as  surely  as  Fire  will  burn, 
The  Gods  of  the  Copybook  Maxims  with  terms  and  slaughters 

return. 

Morality  itself  can  be  understood  only  from  the 
standpoint  of  society  and  social  evolution.  The  moral 
code  is  not  a  supernatural,  arbitrary  decree,  to  which 
artificial  punishments  are  attached.  The  moral  code 
prohibits  the  acts  that  age-long  experience  has  demon- 
strated to  be  destructive.  Nor  are  the  acts  that  destroy 
the  individual's  own  happiness  the  only  ones  that  are 
immoral:  the  moral  law  invades  "personal  liberty," 
whenever  it  is  necessary,  to  prevent  acts  that  interfere 
with  the  welfare  of  others.  This  is  all  as  elementary 
in  moral  philosophy  as  the  multiplication  tables  are  in 
mathematics;  and  yet  it  is  often  overlooked;  possibly 
because  the  evil  consequences  of  immoral  conduct  are 
sometimes  just  a  little  remote.  The  moral  code  is 
essentially  a  method  of  living  together.  If  all  obey  it 
we  live  together  harmoniously;  if  it  is  generally  disre- 
garded life  together  grows  increasingly  difficult  and  at 
length  impossible.  The  nations  that  have  weakened, 
decayed,  and  finally  perished,  have  done  so  at  least 
partly  because  self  indulgence  usurped  the  place  of 
their  early  virtues.  Social  progress  is  partly  material 
achievement,  but  it  is  partly  also  the  achievement  of 
new  and  better  moral  codes.  The  social  reforms  we 
need  now  are  essentially  moral ;  they  consist  in  adding 
new  rights  to  the  established  moral  code.     If,  while 


2l8        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

establishing  these  new  rights,  we  let  go  of  the  old 
duties,  we  shall  not  get  ahead.  What  does  it  advan- 
tage a  man  to  make  a  profit  of  a  hundred  dollars  if  in 
the  meantime  he  squanders  his  patrimony  of  a  thou- 
sand? 

"In  order  to  a  clearer  insight  into  the  social  conse- 
quences of  personal  morality,  consider  the  three  vices: 
licentiousness,  gambling,  and  drunkenness.  The  imme- 
diate effects  of  the  first  are  diseased  bodies,  broken 
homes,  disgraced  parents,  outraged  offspring,  ruined 
lives,  and  the  mental  anguish  of  shame  and  despair. 
As  for  the  second,  think  of  the  worthless,  wasted  lives 
of  young  men,  and  of  the  fathers  whose  gray  hairs 
have  been  brought  down  in  sorrow  to  the  grave.  In- 
temperance has  made  us  so  familiar  with  its  harvest  of 
horrors  that  we  are  calloused  to  them  and  contemplate 
them  with  an  almost  fatalistic  hopelessness  and  indif- 
ference. The  trail  of  poverty,  suffering,  heart  break, 
and  death  which  this  vice  has  left  in  its  train  is  almost 
equivalent  to  perpetual  war. 

"But  these  vices  have  not  only  their  direct  and  imme- 
diate social  consequences,  they  have  their  indirect 
effects  as  well.  For  in  complex  society  like  ours  they 
have  assumed  commercialized  forms.  Everywhere 
they  have  organized  to  corrupt  the  officers  of  the  law 
in  order  to  secure  their  own  protection.  One  of  the 
most  shameful  chapters  in  the  story  of  our  cities'  shame 
is  the  complicity  of  law  officers  with  the  organized 
interests  of  vice.  Officers  whose  sworn  duty  it  is  to 
protect  the  people  from  the  underworld  have  often  pro- 
tected the  underworld  from  the  people.  Not  only  so, 
but  by  an  alliance  with  public-service  corporations  they 
and  the  vice  interests  together  have  been  able  abso- 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    2ig 

lutely  to  control  the  governments  of  many  of  our  Amer- 
ican cities.  Thus  vice  has  often  rendered  municipal 
democracy  a  failure,  temporarily,  at  least,  has  prosti- 
tuted popular  government  to  its  own  uses,  and  raised 
the  question  whether  or  not  democracy  can  succeed  in 
America.  Delos  F.  Wilcox  asserts  that  vice  is  the 
chief  enemy  of  democracy. 

"Imagine,  now,  a  society  in  which  these  vices  and 
their  consequences  have  been  pushed  to  their  logical 
conclusion ;  a  society,  in  other  words,  in  which  they  are 
universal.  A  more  veritable  hell  upon  earth  cannot  be 
imagined.  On  the  other  hand,  conceive  a  society  from 
which  these  vices  have  been  entirely  eliminated  (and 
this,  by  the  way,  is  as  conceivable  as  a  society  in  which 
an  equitable  distribution  of  wealth  has  been  attained), 
and  you  have  conceived  a  society  that  has  made  tremen- 
dous strides  toward  the  realization  of  the  'new  free- 
dom.' 

"How  evident  it  is,  therefore,  that  the  individual  who 
contributes  to  the  prevalence  of  these  vices  in  society  is 
a  tearer-down,  a  destroyer,  a  veritable  traitor  to  the 
common  good!  How  evident,  too,  that  he  whose  life 
is  immune  from  these  moral  diseases  is  making  a  large 
contribution  to  the  welfare  of  society!  How  much 
social  service,  how  much  of  the  work  of  the  reformer 
or  philanthropist  would  it  require,  forsooth,  to  cancel 
the  damage  that  naturally  and  inevitably  accrues  from 
a  vicious  life?"  x 

Why  is  the  family  so  often  referred  to  as  the  basic 
institution?  Partly  because  it  is  an  arrangement  for 
taking  physical  care  of  each  new  generation  during  its 

1  From  the  author's  "Personal  Religion  and  the  Social  Awaken- 
ing,   pp.  36-38. 


220        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

helpless  immaturity.  But  partly  also  because  it  is  an 
educational  institution.  And  as  an  educational  institu- 
tion its  function  is  now  chiefly  moral ;  intellectual  edu- 
cation having  been  largely  taken  over  by  the  school.  It 
instructs  and  practices  children  in  the  conduct  necessary 
to  their  membership  in  society.  If  the  family  performs 
this  work  badly  there  will  be  an  excess  of  vice,  crime 
and  poverty.  All  these  social  diseases,  sociologists 
find  rooting  down  into  bad  family  conditions.  Other 
institutions  will  break  down,  and  reform  measures  will 
fail  to  work,  for  lack  of  dependable  people;  but  if 
every  family  produces  only  honest  sons  and  daughters 
there  will  be  no  graft  in  the  government.  The  decline 
of  their  domestic  life  is  among  the  causes  that  are 
eliminating  the  middle  class.  Those  plain,  old  fash- 
ioned virtues  upon  which  good  homes  were  built  are 
more  important  than  additional  increments  of  wealth. 

"History  also  gives  abundant  testimony  to  the  sa- 
credness  of  this  institution,  for  it  shows  us  that,  al- 
though other  forms  of  the  family  have  existed  at 
various  times  and  places,  no  other  form  has  been  able 
to  conserve  as  high  a  type  of  civilization  as  the  monoga- 
mous form,  and  in  fact  the  struggle  for  existence  has 
all  but  eliminated  these  other  forms.  Moreover,  history 
has  furnished  repeated  instances  of  the  fact  that  when 
the  pure  family  life  has  been  seriously  broken  down, 
civilization  has  broken  down  with  it.  The  case  of 
Rome  is  a  no  less  serious  warning  in  this  respect 
because  reference  to  it  has  become  so  trite. 

"Turning  from  history,  we  find  science  furnished 
with  abundant  evidence  that  promiscuity  causes  steril- 
ity, not  only  by  reason  of  the  diseases  that  it  gives  rise 
to,  but  for  other  reasons  perhaps  not  fully  understood. 


THE   OLD    FASHIONED,    MIDDLE    CLASS   IDEALS        221 

This  fact  makes  it  evident  to  those  who  have  looked 
closely  into  the  matter  that  promiscuity  must  lead 
ultimately  to  the  elimination  of  the  race  that  practices 
it.  As  to  the  diseases  just  referred  to,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  there  is  any  force  at  work  among  the  Ameri- 
can people  that  menaces  more  seriously  their  per- 
petuity. .  .  . 

"These  facts  give  us  a  point  of  view  for  a  clear 
appreciation  of  the  far  reaching  social  destructiveness 
of  sexual  vices  and  divorce.  Together  they  mean  the 
perpetuation  of  the  diseases  they  engender,  with  their 
consequent  poverty  and  crime.  Their  prevalence  among 
us  would  be  an  incontrovertible  sign  of  decay  if  per- 
mitted to  continue  and  thrive.  They  would  mean  the 
inevitable  collapse  of  our  civilization  and  the  extinction 
of  our  race.  The  seriousness  of  this  menace  as  it 
exists  in  America  to-day  has  frequently  been  pointed 
out,  and  it  cannot  be  overestimated."  1 

Saving  is  another  old-fashioned  middle  class  virtue 
that  seems  to  be  going  out  of  date ;  waste  and  extrava- 
gance appear  to  be  increasing  with  prosperity.  Living 
beyond  their  means  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  causes 
that  are  eliminating  the  middle  class. 

There  are  three  outstanding  reasons  for  the  decline 
of  this  old  ideal.  Chief  of  the  three  is  the  modern 
disease  of  extravagance.  The  display  of  luxuries  has 
turned  our  heads.  We  are  infected  as  with  a  con- 
tagion. It  is  not  altogether  that  we  want  the  auto- 
mobiles and  oriental  rugs  and  fur  coats  to  use;  it  is 
more  that  we  want  them  as  evidences  of  success  and 
social  prestige.  Having  apostatized  from  the  ideals 
of  both  Christianity  and  democracy  (How  contrary  to 
1  The  same,  pp.  50-52. 


222        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

both  is  the  ambition  to  be  an  aristocrat!),  and  having 
bowed  down  to  the  Baal  of  mammon,  we  have  come  to 
regard  the  display  of  luxury  as  of  more  worth  than 
the  valid  symbols  of  personality  and  real  achievement. 
The  prime  difficulty  is  not  that  we  have  lost  the  habit 
of  saving,  but  that  the  dollar  has  got  to  the  very  center 
of  our  souls.  It  is  the  middle  class  philosophy  of  life 
that  we  have  lost. 

This  middle  class  craze  for  the  artificial  symbols  of 
success  and  social  prestige  is  a  serious  matter.  It  is 
partly  to  blame  for  the  fact  that  we  are  being  gradually 
eliminated.  The  fault  is  not  only  with  our  stars  but 
with  ourselves  that  we  are  gradually  becoming  under- 
lings. We  are  falling  through  the  sieve  not  only 
because  the  mesh  is  too  large,  but  because  our  own 
souls  are  too  small.  We  could  perhaps  hold  our  own 
even  against  odds  if  it  were  not  for  our  materialistic 
ideals  and  false  philosophy  of  life. 

Sociology  teaches  that  too  high  a  standard  of  living 
is  quite  as  serious  a  eugenic  menace  as  too  low  a 
standard.  Too  low  a  standard  of  living  means  a  high 
birth  rate  among  those  who  are  willing  to  sink  in  the 
scale ;  too  high  a  standard  of  living  means  a  low  birth 
rate  among  those  who  are  unwilling  to  sink  in  the  scale. 
The  squalid  poor  breed  fast  because  their  standard  of 
living  is  too  low ;  the  fastidious  middle  class  barely  hold 
their  own  because  their  standard  of  living  is  too  high. 
The  result  is  that  the  inferior  tend  to  supplant  the 
superior  types  of  our  citizenry.  This  is  why  the  native 
white  stock,  the  backbone  of  the  middle  class,  is  tending 
toward  racial  extinction.  The  standard  of  living  is 
doing  it. 

But  let  us  think  clearly  about  the  standard  of  living. 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    223 

Low  and  high  are  deceptive  terms;  let  us  substitute 
wholesome  and  unwholesome.  Then  it  turns  out  that 
rich  and  poor  alike  have  unwholesome  standards  of 
living;  but  not  for  like  reasons.  The  standards  of  the 
poor  are  unwholesome  because  they  lack  the  means  of 
sanitation,  health,  moral  soundness  and  industrial  effi- 
ciency. These  things,  which  they  really  need,  many  of 
the  poor  do  not  know  enough  to  want;  hence  they 
propagate  without  a  struggle.  They  should  have  these 
things  furnished  them  until  they  acquire  the  want. 
The  standards  of  the  proud  and  well-to-do  are  un- 
wholesome because  they  are  false.  Their  desire  for 
the  artificial  symbols  of  commercial  success  and  social 
standing  is  so  intense  that  normal  reproduction  is 
sacrificed  thereto.  They,  too,  do  not  know  enough  to 
want  the  things  they  really  need.  The  real  fault  is 
with  their  ideals.  They  spend  their  money  for  that 
which  is  not  bread,  and  their  labor  for  that  which  does 
not  satisfy;  and  as  a  result  they  are  sinking  into  ob- 
livion. They  sacrifice  life  to  luxuries,  and  existence  to 
appearance.  The  middle  class  must  revert  to  the  plain, 
old  fashioned,  middle  class  ideals  of  life,  and  set  their 
hearts  less  on  keeping  up  appearances  but  more  on 
keeping  up  the  realities. 

The  second  reason  for  the  decline  of  saving  as  an 
ideal  is  the  real  difficulty  of  securing  a  surplus  under 
the  modern  conditions  of  industrial  organization  de- 
scribed in  Chapters  V  and  VI.  There  are  large  pro- 
portions of  the  population  whose  failure  to  save  is 
explained  by  this  cause.  With  us  of  the  middle  class, 
however,  especially  the  more  prosperous  of  us,  it  is 
the  first,  not  the  second,  of  these  reasons  that  is 
responsible. 


224        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  a  sort  of  socialistic  theory 
abroad  to  the  effect  that  the  more  one  spends  the  more 
one  will  earn.  The  more  the  "wage  slaves"  can  be 
induced  to  get  along  without,  the  cheaper  they  can  be 
hired — so  the  doctrine  is  bluntly  put.  Like  so  many 
destructive  fallacies  there  is  a  grain  of  truth  in  this; 
but  there  are  nine  grains  of  fallacy,  too.  It  is  their 
birthright  that  socialism  is  teaching  the  poor  to  let  slip 
between  their  fingers. 

In  view  of  the  confusion  of  theory  and  practice  about 
saving,  it  might  not  be  amiss  in  this  connection  to 
examine  the  old  fashioned  theories  on  that  subject. 
These  theories  were  both  ethical  and  economic.  From 
the  standpoint  of  morals  it  was  held  that  the  self 
restraint  involved  in  frugality  and  economy  toughened 
the  fiber  of  a  person's  character.  It  was  also  held  that 
the  accumulation  and  ownership  of  property,  even  in 
small  amounts,  gave  the  owner  a  sense  of  responsibility 
and  a  self  confidence  quite  essential  to  normal  person- 
ality. This  theory  is  sound;  and  quite  as  important 
as  ever.  However,  in  order  to  get  the  full  moral 
benefits  of  economy  it  is  necessary  that  saving  be  not 
so  difficult  as  to  be  practically  impossible.  So  long  as 
the  advantages  and  handicaps  exist  that  were  described 
in  Chapters  V  and  VI  discouragement  and  disgust  are 
too  apt  to  sour  the  spirit. 

The  old  economic  theory  was  to  the  effect  that  capital 
is  accumulated  by  the  voluntary  self  denial  and  saving 
of  individuals.  Under  modern  conditions  this,  like  so 
many  other  traditional  theories,  recedes  into  the 
shadows  of  half  truth.  In  the  first  place,  as  Professor 
Friday  *  has  pointed  out,  almost  exactly  two  thirds  of 
1  American  Economic  Review,  March,  1919,  Supplement,  p.  79. 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    225 

the  total  savings  for  the  year  1918  (i.e.,  excess  of 
production  over  consumption)  was  the  undivided  profits 
of  business  and  agricultural  enterprises.  About  one 
third  comes  from  all  other  sources,  including  savings 
out  of  individual  incomes.  That  is  to  say,  in  modern 
industry  new  capital  is  one  of  the  products  of  business; 
at  least  two  thirds  of  it  accrues  in  this  way  *  rather 
than  by  private  self  denial. 

In  the  second  place,  saving  is  and  always  has  been 
mostly  enforced,  rather  than  voluntary.  This  is  the 
joker  in  the  old  economic  theory.  The  saving  has 
mostly  been  done  by  one  set  of  persons,  and  the  accu- 
mulating by  another.  Uncle  Tom  did  the  going  with- 
out ;  Shelby,  St.  Clare  and  Legree  did  the  accumulating 
— after  having  wasted  whatever  their  fancies  dictated. 
Under  present  industrial  conditions  it  is  the  employees 
of  industry  and  the  consumers  of  monopoly  products 
that  do  the  going  without,  while  the  owners  and  man- 
agers of  industry  do  the  accumulating,  after  they  have 
wasted  what  their  fancies  dictate  on  poodles,  palaces 
and  paraphernalia.  And  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
something  less  than  one  third  of  the  new  capital  does 
accrue  from  private  savings.  And  the  fact  remains 
that  individuals  and  families  prosper  if  they  save  and 
accumulate;  but  go  under  if  they  are  wastrels  and 
spendthrifts.  Notwithstanding  the  joker  in  the  old 
theory,  there  can  be  no  salvation  for  a  middle  class  that 
is  no  longer  frugal  and  saving.  Only  economical 
families  would  profit  permanently  by  social  justice  if 
we  had  it. 

The  hope  has  been  held  out  to  the  laboring  class  that 
their  salvation  is  to  come  through  saving.     It  is  urged 

1  See  p.  46,  above. 


226        CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

that  by  investing  their  savings  in  corporation  securities 
they  could  themselves  become  owners  of  the  corpora- 
tions that  employ  them.  In  which  case  owner  and 
worker  would  be  united  again,  as  under  the  old  small- 
shop,  hand-tool  regime.  But  under  present  industrial 
conditions  this  hope  is  ill  grounded  because  of  the 
relatively  small  amount  that  employees  could  possibly 
save.  As  has  already  been  stated,  two  thirds  of  all 
new  capital  is  the  undivided  profits  of  business  enter- 
prise. The  total  savings  of  labor  must  be  a  rather 
small  part  of  the  remaining  third.  This  means  that 
laborers  could  never  hope  to  gain  anything  but  a 
minority  representation  in  industry  by  investing  their 
savings  in  the  securities  of  the  corporations  that  employ 
them.  Only  a  vanishing  representation,  to  be  more 
accurate.  That  is  the  whole  tendency  of  modern 
industry,  for  the  reasons  pointed  out  in  Chapters  V 
and  VI.  This  proposal,  that  labor  might  turn  capitalist 
by  saving,  when  thought  through,  only  throws  the 
to-him-that-hath-shall-be-given  aspect  of  modern  in- 
dustry into  clearer  relief. 

In  practice  the  case  is  even  worse  than  that,  because 
when  employees  do  invest  in  corporate  securities  it  is 
too  often  mere  water  that  they  buy.  Suppose,  for 
example,  that  the  prosperity  of  a  given  concern  in- 
creases the  market  value  of  its  stocks  by,  say,  $25,- 
000,000.  By  a  well-known  device  of  stock  jugglery 
it  is  easy  to  let  that  appear  in  the  face  value  of  the 
corporation's  stocks  instead  of  in  the  market  value. 
In  other  words,  the  corporation  issues  $25,000,000 
new  stock  without  adding  anything  to  its  material 
equipment.  This  new  stock  is  then  offered  to  the 
employees,  in  exchange  for  their  savings.     The  ex- 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS   227 

panding  value  of  capital  thus  sucks  up  the  small  savings 
of  labor  like  a  vacuum.  It  is  evident  that  labor's 
attempt  to  enfranchise  themselves  by  this  method  is 
like  a  man's  efforts  to  extricate  himself  from  quick- 
sand :  the  more  he  struggles  the  deeper  he  is  mired. 
If  the  workers  are  to  become  owners  it  is  necessary, 
first,  that  they  be  allotted  a  larger  share  of  the  profits 
of  industry,  and,  second,  that  stock  jugglery  be  stopped 
so  that  the  small  investor  can  buy  securities  with  well- 
grounded  confidence. 

Although  the  enfranchisement  of  laborers  is  not 
likely  to  be  accomplished  through  saving  alone,  never- 
theless saving  is  a  sound  policy  for  them,  and  the 
industrial  future  of  society  is  not  safe  without  it. 
Enfranchisement  and  extravagance  together  would 
mean  industrial  ruin  eventually.  In  the  past  wealth 
has  been  saved  involuntarily,  it  is  true ;  but  saved  it  has 
been,  and  accumulated.  Involuntary  saving  is  like 
autocratic  control :  better  than  none.  Voluntary  is 
always  a  later  word,  whether  in  the  growth  of  children 
or  of  civilization;  compulsory  comes  first.  Civiliza- 
tion would  never  have  reached  its  present  level  without 
slavery  and  absolute  monarchy.  If  now  we  are  to 
have  political  freedom  we  must  have  self  control;  if 
the  laboring  classes  are  to  have  industrial  freedom  they 
must  practice  voluntary  saving.  Labor  demands  a 
voice  in  the  management  of  industry  precisely  in  order 
to  command  a  larger  share  in  the  product.  If,  when 
they  get  it,  they  waste  it  in  extravagance  there  will 
be  no  saving  at  all,  either  voluntary  or  involuntary, 
individual  or  social.  Our  great  corporations  have  been 
great  accumulators;  if  they  are  emasculated  of  that 
power  by  the  voice  of  irresponsible  labor  in  their  man- 


228        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

agement,  the  result  may  be  industrial  disaster.  The 
luxury  and  waste  of  the  privileged  classes,  present  and 
past,  is  the  symbol  of  their  failure,  not  of  their  success 
— their  failure  to  make  good  use  of  what  society  en- 
trusted to  their  management.  If  the  masses  should  be 
given  the  means  to  imitate  their  waste,  civilization  could 
hardly  stand  the  strain  for  a  century;  unless  with  the 
means  the  masses  acquired  also  the  character  and  self- 
restraint  to  save  instead  of  to  waste.  Nor  would  the 
cooperative  saving  at  the  sources,  of  which  socialism 
boasts,  avail  if  the  individuals  involved  had  the  wastrel 
attitude  of  mind.  One  hundred  million  spendthrifts 
and  wastrels  will  not  total  a  saving  nation  even  in  a 
socialistic  Utopia.  Political  democracy  gives  you  a 
Russia  or  a  Mexico  if  the  individuals  are  either  red  or 
yellow;  nor  is  democracy  a  magic  word  in  industry, 
either. 

Whatever  may  be  said,  therefore,  of  the  industrial 
maladjustments  under  which  we  suffer,  the  fact  remains 
that  the  good,  old  fashioned  middle  class  doctrine  of 
saving  is  as  valid  as  ever  it  was.  We  smile  at  the  petty 
economies  of  the  old  folks  years  ago,  and  sometimes 
pity  the  meagerness  and  barrenness  of  their  lives ;  but 
it  was  by  that  hard  economy  that  they  paid  off  the 
mortgage.  And  without  that  same  spirit,  collectively 
encouraged  and  individually  practiced,  we  shall  never 
be  able  to  pay  off  the  social  mortgage.  The  good, 
old  fashioned  ideal  of  making  good  on  one's  own 
account  is  valid  still.  No  social  regime  will  ever  repeal 
the  ancient  law  that,  without  self  denial  and  frugality, 
individuals,  families  and  nations  go  to  the  wall.  Poor 
Richard  ought  to  be  as  popular  to-day  as  in  the  days 


THE  OLD  FASHIONED,  MIDDLE  CLASS  IDEALS    220, 

of  old  Ben  Franklin.  Without  saving  and  the  spiritual 
ideals  that  go  with  it,  there  will  be  no  cure  for  the 
social  unrest. 

Plain,  common  honesty  is  another  of  the  old 
fashioned,  middle  class  virtues  without  which  society 
cannot  survive.  Exploitation  is,  we  trust,  vanishing 
into  the  past;  cooperation  looms  ever  larger  on  the 
horizon  of  the  future.  Fraud  and  cheating  belong  with 
war :  they  can  have  no  place  in  a  cooperative  world. 
Honesty,  truth  and  dependability  are  the  foundations 
of  a  nation's  business  development;  for  business  is  a 
cooperative  enterprise,  slow  as  the  world  has  been  to 
find  it  out.  Sabotage,  contract  breaking,  killing  time 
on  the  job,  are  war  measures.  There  can  be  no  indus- 
trial peace  so  long  as  they  continue.  "His  word  was 
as  good  as  his  bond"  is  a  tribute  every  reader  is  proud 
to  hear  paid  to  his  father ;  even  a  grandfather  worthy 
of  the  phrase  is  not  too  remote  to  be  a  source  of  pride. 
Unless  the  young  men  of  the  oncoming  generation  are 
worthy  of  their  fathers  and  grandfathers,  their  own 
sons  and  grandsons  will  not  be  proud  of  them.  Dis- 
honesty is  cowardice,  and  quite  as  treasonable  to  democ- 
racy, for  it  loses  the  battles  of  the  social  crisis.  Sturdy 
conscientiousness  is  the  only  thing  that  will  not  let  the 
enemy  pass. 

A  confident  word  may  very  properly  be  said  for  the 
old  fashioned  middle  class  piety.  "The  religious  life 
is  far  more  than  a  mere  harmless  diversion,  a  mere 
plaything  with  which  children  can  be  amused,  so  as  to 
keep  them  out  of  mischief.  It  is  positively  socializing 
in  a  score  of  different  ways.  This  may  be  especially 
and  emphatically  said  of  the  Christian  religion.     For 


23O        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

its  uniqueness  and  grandeur  consists  precisely  in  this : 
that  it  harnesses  the  religious  activities  and  emotions  to 
social  sentiments,  ideals,  and  enterprises.  It  stimulates 
instincts  of  sympathy  and  love,  not  only  by  its  standards 
but  by  the  emotions  that  it  generates.  Thus  men  are 
motivated  to  lives  of  spontaneous  and  positive  good- 
ness; they  are  bound  together  by  mutual  spiritual  in- 
terests of  the  most  intimate  and  tender  sort.  Thus  the 
world's  capitalgof  love  is  immeasurably  augmented,  and 
its  liability  to  hatred  immeasurably  decreased. 

"Again,  the  religious  life,  especially  the  Christian 
life,  renders  the  heart  right  as  nothing  else  can  possibly 
do.  It  places  its  emphasis  upon  sincerity  and  good 
intentions  as  the  prime  requisites.  And  here,  again, 
it  stimulates  these  virtues  with  emotions  that  can  not 
be  tabulated.  It  strengthens,  moreover,  the  will  by  its 
very  access  to  those  higher  and  invisible  powers  which 
no  man  can  explain.  Thus  it  makes  men  over,  and 
from  what  has  already  been  said  of  the  social  value 
of  individual  morality,  its  social  value  must  appear. 

"Not  only  so,  but — and  this  is  most  important  of 
all — religion  always  and  everywhere  has  been  charac- 
terized by  its  power  to  seize  upon  ideals,  enterprises, 
and  causes,  and  marshal  thereto  fervor  and  enthusiasm 
that  are  incalculable.  History  is  full  of  instances: 
the  pilgrimages  of  the  Buddhists,  the  conquests  of  the 
Mohammedans,  the  fanatical  crusades  against  the  Albi- 
genses,  and  so  on  without  limit.  This  fervor  and 
activity,  often  tremendous,  though  sometimes  fanatical, 
may  be  tamed  and  harnessed  to  the  cause  of  social 
welfare.  It  may  be  made  to  motivate  the  individual 
moral  regeneration  of  whole  populations  in  behalf  of 


THE   OLD   FASHIONED,    MIDDLE    CLASS   IDEALS        23 1 

social  ideals,  and  it  may  be  utilized  in  behalf  of  social 
justice."  1 

Will  the  reader  kindly  turn  to  his  "Cotter's  Saturday 
Night"  ?  Here  Burns  sets  forth  the  joys  and  ideals  of 
middle  class  life  in  Scotland  a  century  and  a  quarter 
ago :  industry,  domestic  harmony,  frugality,  self-denial, 
virtue,  and  piety. 

"The  mother,  wi'  her  needle  and  her  shears 
Gars  auld  claes  look  maist  as  weel's  the  new: 
The  father  mixes  a'  wi'  admonition  due. 

"Their  masters'  and  their  mistresses'  command, 
The  younkers  a'  are  warned  to  obey: 
An'  mind  their  labors  wi'  an  eydent  hand. 

"The  cheerfu'  supper  done,  wi'  serious  face, 
They  round  the  ingle  form  a  circle  wide, 
The  sire  turns  a'er  wi'  patriarchial  grace 
The  big  ha'  Bible,  ance  his  father's  pride. 

"He  wales  a  portion  with  judicious  care: 
And,  'Let  us  worship  God !'  he  says,  -with  solemn  air. 

"From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 
That  make  her  loved  at  home,  revered  abroad : 
Princes  and  lords  are  but  the  breath  of  kings, 
'An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God.' " 

And  from  scenes  that  are  the  modern  equivalent  of 
these  America's  grandeur  in  the  new  era  will  arise,  if 
it  is  to  arise  at  all.  To  sneer  at  the  homely  virtues  of 
faith,  sincerity,  conscientiousness,  honesty,  diligence, 
frugality,  self-denial  and  modesty  is  to  sneer  at  the 
foundations  of  the  earth;  no  social  reforms  can  ever 
prosper  that  are  flippant  toward  them.  Civilization, 
much  less  a  super-civilization,  is  utterly  impossible 
without  them. 

1  The  author's  "Personal  Religion  and  the  Social  Awakening," 
pp.  91,  92. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   NEW    EDUCATION 

EQUITABLE  distribution  of  wealth  is  absolutely 
necessary ;  but  that  would  pretty  much  take  care 
of  itself  if  only  knowledge  were  distributed 
liberally  enough.  Ignorant  persons  are  likely  to  be 
poor;  but  education  has  a  money  value.  Intelligence 
is  a  weapon  with  which  the  masses  can  protect  them- 
selves from  exploitation ;  but  without  it  they  are  help- 
less. Not  the  common  ownership  of  material  wealth 
but  the  universal  possession  of  intelligence  and  culture 
is  the  only  safe  socialism. 

Bad  institutions*— slavery,  autocracy,  polygamy — 
must  go;  but  the  manner  of  their  going  is  of  no  slight 
moment.  If  the  private  ownership  of  land  and  capital 
should  ever  be  proven  pernicious,  as  the  socialists  con- 
tend it  is,  we  should  all  be  as  anxious  as  they  to  discard 
it;  but  we  are  all  desperately  concerned  about  the 
method  of  deciding  whether  it  be  pernicious  or  not. 
The  getting  rid  of  bad  institutions,  and  the  substituting 
of  better  ones  in  their  places,  has  usually  been  a  bloody 
business.  Hitherto  the  partisans  of  competing  insti- 
tutions have  usually  locked  in  mortal  combat.  The 
reason  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter  III.  Such  was  the 
case  between  autocracy  and  democracy  but  yesterday. 
But  that  is  a  tragic,  brutish  method,  frightfully  waste- 
ful of  human  values.    Besides,  nothing  is  ever  settled 

232 


THE    NEW    EDUCATION  233 

till  it  is  settled  right.  If  the  bad  institution  wins,  its 
victims  are  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  contest  the  decision 
again.  Peace  is  never  permanent  until  a  basis  is 
reached  on  which  natural  rights  and  social  justice  are 
assured. 

Why  not,  therefore,  put  our  institutions  through  the 
sieve  of  reason  and  justice  in  the  first  place?  Why  not 
use  intelligence  as  the  guide  of  social  life?  Why  not 
make  reason  the  instrument  of  social  selection?  The 
answer  is  all  too  obvious :  there  is  not  sufficient  intel- 
ligence extant.  The  ignorance  of  the  masses  was  the 
reason  why  the  Utopian  hopes  of  the  sixteenth  century 
humanists  were  so  long  delayed — the  ignorance  of  the 
masses!  Likewise  we,  if  we  are  to  pass  peacefully 
through  the  present  social  crisis,  and  bequeath  to  our 
children's  children  the  normally  ripening  fruits  of 
democracy,  must  make  provision  for  vastly  increasing 
the  stock  of  popular  intelligence. 

The  task  of  social  readjustment  is,  therefore,  not  so 
much  a  task  for  the  agitator,  the  social  reformer,  or 
even  the  statesman,  as  it  is  a  task  for  the  educator; 
because  he  is  the  power  behind  the  scenes.  In  the  long 
fun  it  is  he  who  creates  public  opinion.  That  is  why 
he  must  be  free  and  unbiased. 

The  history  of  education  teaches  us  to  see  the  causal 
relation  between  a  civilization  and  its  system  of  edu- 
cation. Sparta  had  a  civilization  that  was  exclusively 
militaristic,  and  a  schooling  that  was  equally  so. 
Athenian  civilization  was  uniquely  creative  in  the  field 
of  the  fine  arts,  and  the  unique  feature  of  her  schools 
was  the  emphasis  they  put  upon  artistic  initiative. 
China  worshiped  the  past,  and  her  education  consisted 
in  having  her  boys  memorize  the  maxims  that  had  come 


234        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

down  from  the  past.     When  a  civilization  changes  its 
education  changes  too.     China  has  replaced  her  classics 
with  natural  science  in  her  curriculum.     The  Reforma- 
tion started  a  new  type  of  education   in   Protestant 
countries.     And  the  great  changes  of  the  last  century, 
expounded  in  Chapter  IV,  have  been  accompanied  by 
the  greatest  changes  and  expansions  in  the  history  of 
education. 
^/    The  principle  to  be  noted  definitely  is  the  causal 
^function  of  education.     What  the  schools  teach  to-day, 
.  ^that  society  will  be  to-morrow.     If  the  civilization  of 
^to-morrow  is  like  the  civilization  of  yesterday,  it  is 
largely  because  the  schools  of  to-day  teach  the  culture 
X  of  yesterday  to  the  rising  generation.     To-morrow  will 
be  whatever  the  schools  are  to-day.     If  a  civilization 

f\  aspires  therefore  to  become  telic  and  predetermine  its 
to-morrow,  it  will  do  so  through  its  schools.     It  will 

1  anticipate  what  its  to-morrow  ought  to  be,  and  plan 
to-day's  curriculum  accordingly.  If  a  civilization 
aspires  to  shape  the  institutions  of  its  future — remake 
family  life,  remodel  the  state,  readjust  industrial  rela- 
tions, it  will  mold  its  children  into  such  shapes  that 
they  will  fall  together  socially  into  the  institutions 
desired.  It  follows  that  the  school  is  the  steering  gear 
of  the  republic.  America's  teachers  are,  therefore, 
quite  as  much  as  any  other  class,  the  creators  of  her 
future  destiny.  If  civilization  is  to  give  place  to  a 
super-civilization,  we  must  remember  that  education 
will  first  have  to  give  place  to  a  super-education;  for 
education  is  cause  and  civilization  is  result.  If  the 
conclusion  set  forth  in  Chapter  IV  is  sound,  we  must 
at  once  lay  out  the  foundations  of  a  new  education  so 
much  more  extensive  than  that  of  the  past  that  our 


THE    NEW    EDUCATION  235 

sluggish  imaginations  grasp  its  proportions  with  un- 
prophetic  difficulty. 

To  start  with,  we  must  conceive  a  new  educational 
ideal.  Whoever  ponders  over  the  implications  of 
democracy  will  realize  that  its  ideals  entitle  every  citizen 
to  an  adequate  opportunity  for  complete  self-realization. 
In  order  to  achieve  that  right  all  citizens  must  be 
guaranteed  opportunity  to  share  equally,  at  least  to  the 
full  extent  of  their  mental  capacities,  in  the  benefits  of 
knowledge  and  culture.  Literature,  art,  science,  recrea- 
tional devices,  the  moral  code,  the  Christian  ideals,  the 
social  institutions,  are  all  the  products  of  the  race's 
cooperative  endeavor;  they  are  social  capital,  joint  pos- 
sessions ;  and  their  use  and  enjoyment  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  equally  accessible  to  all.  How  utterly  undemo- 
cratic it  is  for  acquaintance  with  classic  literature  to 
serve  as  a  badge  of  social  exclusiveness !  If  music, 
sanitary  science,  wholesome  sports,  and  all  other  good 
things  of  civilized  life  are  means  of  happiness,  whom 
should  democracy  select  to  deprive  of  their  blessings? 
Some  one  has  said  that  the  aim  of  the  country  life 
movement  is  to  render  life  on  the  farm  "permanently 
satisfying  to  representative  American  citizens."  That 
is  also  the  aim  of  democracy,  except  that  democracy 
includes  miners,  garment  makers,  mill  operatives,  steel 
workers,  teamsters,  and  all,  as  well  as  farmers.  Now 
ignorance  is  the  cause  of  most  of  the  handicaps  of  these 
classes;  or  at  least  most  of  their  handicaps  could  be 
removed  by  the  right  sort  of  education.  Education  is 
the  solution  of  the  country  life  problem,  for  instance. 
Agriculture  can  be  greatly  improved  by  science;  rural 
life  can  be  enriched  by  art  in  various  practical  forms; 
education  can  take  care  of  the  rural  recreational  prob- 


236       CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

lem ;  and  only  by  knowledge  can  farmers  learn  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  industrial  exploitation.  Likewise 
any  other  industrial  group.  And  democracy  is  bound 
by  its  own  ideals  to  furnish  all  citizens  with  oppor- 
tunity for  permanently  satisfying  lives. 

And  not  only  is  such  a  common  sharing  demanded 
by  the  ideals  of  democracy ;  it  is  demanded  as  well  by 
the  fundamental  laws  of  social  self  preservation.  It  is 
necessary  to  the  success  of  democracy;  but  most  espe- 
cially so  in  a  changing  age  like  this,  when  all  things 
are  in  flux,  and  permanent  values  are  liable  to  be  lost. 
Social  philosophy  has  demonstrated  that  common  in- 
terests are  the  fundamental  requisites  of  social  organ- 
ization and  order.  Diversities  of  races,  languages, 
religions  and  social  classes  are  the  source  of  social 
friction  and  discord.  Social  classes  and  castes  can  be 
liquidated  and  fused  only  by  putting  the  common 
culture  into  the  hands  of  all  alike.  And  the  more 
complex  civilization  becomes,  the  larger  must  be  the 
culture  that  is  common  to  all.  This  is  the  more  neces- 
sary in  a  democracy  where  force  is  not  at  hand  to 
preserve  order,  and  the  most  necessary  of  all  in  an  age 
of  change  that  tends  to  unsettle  the  familiar  programs 
of  cooperation.  Moreover,  social  progress  depends 
quite  as  much  upon  distribution  as  upon  production  of 
knowledge.  The  more  profoundly  one  understands  the 
forces  and  laws  of  social  organization  the  more  clearly 
he  recognizes  the  need  of  a  wide  and  liberal  distribution 
of  culture,  and  the  more  distinctly  he  discerns  that  the 
surest  way  to  wreck  democracy,  especially  in  the  shoals 
of  a  critical  period  like  this,  is  to  tolerate  the  present 
partial  and  inadequate  distribution  of  learning. 

tWhile  it  is  the  essential  social  function  of  the  ele- 


THE    NEW   EDUCATION  237 

mentary  school  to  teach  what  must  be  common  to  all, 
it  is  evident  that  our  culture  is  now  so  extensive  and 
mature  that  the  elementary  school  is  unequal  to  the 
task.  The  high  school  must  come  to  the  aid  of  the 
elementary  school.  Only  eleven  per  cent,  approxi- 
mately, of  our  young  people  graduate  from  the  high 
school.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  not  have  even  an 
elementary  universal  education.  Some  one  recently 
pointed  out  that  we  are  a  sixth-grade  nation  on  the 
average.  Shockingly  large  numbers  of  our  citizenry 
have  had  no  adequate  opportunity  to  escape  the  handi- 
caps even  of  illiteracy.  The  draft  revealed  700,000 
young  men  of  draft  age  who  could  not  read  nor  write 
the  English  language.  We  were  shocked  to  learn  that, 
because  we  realized  intuitively  that  democracy  can  not 
succeed  on  that  basis. 

At  this  point  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  adapt  the 
rhetoric  to  the  needs  of  the  argument,  since  the  ideal 
we  are  pleading  for  is  such  a  stranger  to  the  average 
mind — indeed,  to  the  minds  of  too  many  educational 
leaders.  Universal  secondary  education  must  be 
adopted  as  the  American  slogan.  High  school 
graduation  is  the  minimum  essential  for  American 
citizenship.  Of  course,  this  implies  a  high  school 
curriculum  adapted  to  individual  differences  and  to  the 
social  needs  of  modern  life.  When  we  consider  how 
small  a  proportion  of  our  children  go  beyond  the 
elementary  school — scarcely  thirty-five  per  cent — we 
realize  what  an  ambitious  program  this  is.  But  noth- 
ing short  of  this  will  serve  the  purpose.  The  half- 
loaf,  makeshift  reforms  of  sociological  near-sighted- 
ness, are  lamentably  out  of  place  in  germinal  times 
like  these. 


238       CAUSES   AND    CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

This  may  suggest  the  magnitude  of  the  educational 
advance  that  we  must  set  ourselves  seriously  to  the 
task  of  consummating  immediately  if  we  are  to  build 
a  school  system  commensurate  with  the  new  democracy 
that  is  struggling  to  be  born;  a  system  that  shall  be 
capable  of  performing  the  causal  function  that  the 
present  crisis  will  impose  upon  it. 

It  is  interesting  to  inquire  somewhat  in  detail  what 
such  a  system  will  be. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  equipped  to  conserve 
the  physical  health  of  the  nation's  children.  This  will 
require  free  medical  and  dental  clinics  for  both  diag- 
nosis and  treatment.  It  will  require  a  reorganization 
of  the  entire  curriculum  from  the  standpoint  of  physical 

;  o  p  education. 

3  '  Universal  industrial  training  is  also  an  important 
item  in  the  new*  educational  program.  The  nation  is 
awakening  to  that  fact.     No  prosperity  for  the  masses 

' /j  can  ever  be  built  on  any  other  basis  than  individual 
efficiency.  The  person  who  develops  efficiency  in  him- 
self will  succeed  fairly  well  in  spite  of  such  social 
injustices  as  do  exist  in  America.  On  the  other  hand 
a  just  society  will  do  everything  possible  to  insure  the 
economic  efficiency  of  every  citizen.  Our  educational 
system,  great  as  has  been  its  progress,  does  not  do  that 
as  yet.  Our  curriculum  is  too  academic,  and  not  suffi- 
ciently practical;  our  compulsory  attendance  laws  are 
inadequate  as  to  age  limit,  and  inadequately  enforced; 
and  we  offer  too  little  assistance  to  the  children  of  the 
poor.  We  ought  to  keep  practically  all  children  in 
school  till  approximately  eighteen ;  and  their  schooling 
ought  to  include  vocational  education  of  a  practical  sort. 
For  the  schools  of  a  democracy  can  never  afford  to  take 


THE   NEW   EDUCATION  239 

their  cue  from  the  social  status  of  the  poor;  instead,\ 
they  must  throw  the  door  of  opportunity  wide  open  to 
all.     The  plea  in  behalf  of  those  who  are  compelled^ 
to  leave  school  early  is  as  dangerous  as  it  is  plausible. 
They  must  be  compelled  to   not  leave   school   early. 
Whatever  the  cause  of  their  leaving  early,  whether  an 
ill-devised  curriculum   or  their   own  poverty,   or  tf^ 
ignorance  of  their  parents,  the  cause  must  be  overcome, 
no  matter  how  serious  the  difficulties  nor  how  great 
the  cost.     For  the  industries  are  made  for  the  children, ' 
not  the  children  for  the  industries.     There  are  as  yet 
many  unsolved  problems  in  vocational  education;  but 
none  that  are  insoluble  if  educators,   taxpayers  and 
public  will  cooperate.     But  some  things  are  already 
clear.     Industrial  training  must  not  be  divorced  from 
liberal  education.     To  equip  young  adolescents  with 
merchantable  skill,  instead  of  general  intelligence,  is 
to  enslave  them.     Education,  to  insure  real  efficiency, 
must  produce  not  only  skill  but  adaptability,  intelligent 
comprehension  of  the  whole  productive  process,  and 
knowledge  of  economic  law.     Education  can  affect  dis- 
tribution, too,  by  molding  wants,  so  that  the  rich  will 
not  "waste  their  substance  in  riotous  living"  nor  the 
poor  "spend  their  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread 
and  their  labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not."     This 
implies  cultural  education  of  a  new  democratic  type. 

In  Chapter  XV  the  function  of  morality  in  the 
reconstruction  was  discussed,  and  the  responsibility  of 
religion  will  be  pointed  out  in  Chapter  XIX.  But 
the  sclig^ls  als#  have  an  immense  responsibility  in  this 
matter.  To  solve  the  problem  of  moral  education  in 
the  schools  is  therefore  absolutely  requisite  to  the  task 
of  the  age.     And  to  date  we  are  almost  as  far  from 


v>- 


24O        CAUSES    AND    CURES    FOR    SOCIAL    UNREST 

the  solution  of  that  problem  as  we  are  from  securing 
universal  high  school  graduation. 

The  situation  requires  a  complete  redirection  of  our 
secondary  schools.  In  fact,  the  entire  educational 
institution  needs  a  thorough  overhauling  from  bottom 
to  top.  The  curriculum  needs  remaking.  Industry, 
recreation,  physical  training  and  hygiene,  homemaking, 
art  in  various  practicable  forms,  social  science,  etc., 
must  find  an  adequate  place  in  the  curriculum;  while 
the  grip  of  blind  tradition  must  be  broken.  School- 
room methods  will  have  to  be  as  radically  modified  as 
school  subjects  themselves.  The  kindergarten  must  be 
extended  until,  at  least  in  cooperation  with  other  insti- 
tutions, it  takes  into  its  lap  the  babies  of  the  poor  so 
tenderly  as  to  prevent  the  300,000  unnecessary  deaths 
each  year.  The  compulsory  attendance  age  must  be 
raised.  Child  labor  must  be  outlawed;  and  instead 
there  must  be  developed  some  sound  form  of  industrial 
participation  as  part  of  the  school  program.  The 
medical  profession  must  be  so  far  socialized  as  to 
provide  at  least  for  the  free  medical  care  of  all  children. 
The  children  of  the  poor  will  have  to  be  fed  and  clothed 
in  partfct  least  by  the  school,  in  order  to  keep  them  in 
school  and  up  to  standard  in  efficiency.  Recreation 
must  be'  as  well  recognized  in  school  equipment  as 
science  now  is.  Commercialized  amusements  must  be 
superseded.  There  must  be  worked  out  an  efficient 
cooperation  between  home,  church,  school  and  civic 
authorities,  especially  for  moral  safeguarding  and 
training.  This,  it  will  be  ^served,  is  an  ambitious 
program.  But  this  is  an  ambitious  age.  It  aspires  to 
see  the  present  muddle  through  promptly,  and  put  foot 
on  the  shores  of  a  new  world. 


THE    NEW   EDUCATION  2.\\ 

The  new  education  will  mean  well  equipped,  all- 
modern  schools ;  it  will  mean  highly  educated  teachers, 
and  it  will  mean  vastly  extended  facilities.  Such  an 
educational  program  will  not  come  cheap;  but  it  will 
equip  the  laboring  class  with  individual  efficiency,  and 
make  both  them  and  the  nation  prosperous.  To  this 
end  the  authority  of  the  Federal  government  should  be 
greatly  extended.  The  Bureau  of  Education  should  be 
elevated  to  a  department,  and  the  commissioner  given 
a  portfolio  in  the  President's  cabinet.  State,  and  espe- 
cially Federal,  aid  must  be  very  greatly  extended  in 
order  to  equalize  educational  facilities  in  different 
localities.  Unprecedented  resources  need  to  be  put  at 
the  disposal  of  the  schools.  The  tax  reform  described 
in  Chapter  XII  will  make  that  possible.  The  schools  in 
turn  would  then  be  in  a  position  to  generate  efficiency, 
guarantee  opportunity  and  insure  self-realization  in 
like  undreamed  of  proportions  to  all  citizens.  Nothing 
less  will  fulfill  the  promises  of  democracy.  In  the 
reaction  against  war-time  expenses  and  high  taxes  now 
sweeping  over  the  country  there  is  grave  danger  that 
the  great  forward  move  in  education  so  much  needed 
may  be  side-tracked.  There  could  scarcely  be  a  costlier 
economy  at  this  critical  time.  Educational  expansion 
is  an  absolutely  necessary  item  in  the  campaign  against 
radicalism  in  America. 

In  conclusion,  and  for  the  sake  of  emphasis,  the  vital 
points  of  this  chapter  may  be  set  forth  again  in  two 
short  paragraphs. 

First:  The  higher  the  civilization  the  higher  the 
education  necessary.  Savages  have  no  schools  at  all. 
Throughout  the  historic  period,  while  the  handicraft 
method  jjjr  industry  and  the  monarchical  form  of  gov- 


242        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

ernment  prevailed,  private  schools  for  the  few,  and 
illiteracy  for  the  masses,  was  the  system  of  education 
that  prevailed  everywhere;  the  amount  and  kind  of 
private  schooling  depending  on  the  amount  and  kind 
of  civilization.  But  now  we  are  entering  a  new  super- 
civilization,  in  which  the  power-machine  method  of 
industry,  the  democratic  form  of  government,  and  the 
scientific  method  of  thinking,  are  to  prevail.  For  that 
new  super-civilization  a  new  system  of  free,  universal, 
public  education  is  coming  into  existence.  It  has  been 
growing  for  a  century;  and  very  rapidly  for  the  past 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years.  But  it  is  not  half  grown 
yet.  The  only  educational  system  that  will  fit  the  new 
super-civilization  is  one  that  makes  a  good,  practical, 
all-round,  high  school  education  free  and  compulsory 
to  all,  and  higher  education  freely  accessible  to  all  who 
have  brains  enough  to  profit  by  it.  The  generation 
now  living  must  see  the  growth  of  the  new  education 
completed. 

Seconcffijphe  mind  is  the  most  important  instrument 
in  human  life.  It  is  more  potent  than  muscle,  for  it 
substitutes  steam  and  electricity  for  muscle.  It  is 
better  than  fleetness  of  foot  or  wing,  for  it  invents  the 
means  of  far  greater  speed  than  these.  It  is  more 
important  than  natural  wealth,  for  without  intelligence 
no  good  use  can  be  made  of  wealth.  Without  intel- 
ligence political  democracy  is  a  vain  hope,  for  an  igno- 
rant people  can  never  make  a  democracy  succeed.  If 
workers  are  to  nave  control  of  industry  they  must 
acquire  the  intelligence,  experience,  knowledge  and 
judgment  necessary  thereto.  Knowledge  is  power; 
intelligence  is  the  master  key  that  unlocks  all  sorts  of 
opportunities.     To  be  educated  is  therefore  tjae  right  of 


U* 


THE    NEW    EDUCATION  243 

rights.  If  democracy  is  to  give  all  men  their  rights 
it  must  give  every  person  all  the  education  he  can  take. 
There  can  be  no  social  justice  where  part  of  the  people 
are  deprived  of  education.  We  deceive  ourselves  unless 
we  understand  that  enlightenment  is  the  most  important 
thing  to  be  shared  by  all.  Put  the  master  key  into 
every  citizen's  hand  and  the  social  unrest  will  dis- 
appear. While  the  masses  are  clamoring  for  a  just 
distribution  of  wealth  the  friends  of  real  democracy 
must  see  to  it  that  they  are  given  a  just  distribution  of 
intelligence  and  culture  also. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  close  this  chap- 
ter with  the  challenge  of  the  socialists.  Their  stock 
reply  to  the  argument  of  this  chapter  is  that  such  an 
educational  advance  can  not  be  secured  under  the 
present  management  of  society.  They  usually  admit 
that  it  would  head  off  socialism.  But  they  confidently 
assert  that  socialism  never  will  be  headed  off  by  educa- 
tion because  the  necessary  education  will  be  headed  off 
by  capitalism.  It  is  for  us  of  the  middle  class  to  see 
that  the  lie  is  put  to  this  challenge.  One  of  the  vital 
needs  of  the  present  crisis  is  to  make  all  the  people 
understand  the  fundamental  importance  of  expanding 
public  education. 

H.  G.  Wells  has  coined  a  ringing  phrase  which  con- 
denses the  argument  of  this  chapter  into  an  epigram, 
and  which  we  may  well  adopt  as  a  slogan.  This  is  the 
phrase:  "The  race  between  education  and  catas- 
trophe" !    That  is  the  present  situation  in  a  nut  shell. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE    NEED    FOR    SOCIAL   SCIENCE 

DEMOCRACY,  as  we  have  said,  is  confronted 
by  a  most  bewildering  array  of  social  and  eco- 
nomic problems.  An  almost  interminable  list 
suggest  themselves :  land  tenure,  urban  congestion, 
credit,  periodical  unemployment,  absentee  landlordism, 
financial  panics,  monopoly,  tariff,  immigration,  tenancy, 
over-capitalization,  labor  and  capital,  Americanization, 
unearned  increment,  business  depressions,  I.  W.  W.- 
ism,  corporation  piracy,  the  closed  shop,  socialism, 
divorce,  taxation,  political  corruption,  stock  jugglery, 
strikes,  vagrancy,  industrial  accidents,  crime,  distribu- 
tion of  labor,  pauperism,  railroad  regulation,  wealth 
concentration,  labor  unionism,  preventable  disease,  etc., 
etc.,  etc.  Taken  together,  they  constitute  the  social 
problem,  and  are  the  occasion  of  the  social  unrest. 
For  a  little  meditation  on  each  of  these  problems  shows 
that  almost  every  one  resolves  itself  into  an  argument 
between  the  haves  and  the  have-nots.  Reduced  to  a 
common  denominator,  they  become  the  problems  of 
distribution  versus  concentration  of  wealth.  And  since 
the  state  is  the  agency  through  which  decisions  are 
reached  and  enforced,  the  fundamental  struggle  is  for 
the  control  of  the  state.  Boiled  down,  therefore,  the 
issue  is  democracy  versus  plutocracy.  Upon  the  wise 
and  just  solution  of  these  issues  the  success  and  per- 

244 


THE    NEED    FOR    SOCIAL    SCIENCE  245 

manency  of  the  republic  depends;  and  the  crisis  of  the 
times  is  going  to  crowd  them  on  to  the  docket  fast. 
What  we  might  have  taken  two  or  three  generations 
to  think  out  at  leisure  the  turbulence  of  the  present 
crisis  may  compel  us  to  decide  in  a  few  years. 

How  can  these  problems  be  solved  and  the  com- 
plications they  threaten  averted?  The  question  is 
half  answered  when  it  is  restated:  Who  is  going  to 
solve  our  social  problems  ?  Then  the  answer  is  antici- 
pated :  The  People !  In  a  government  like  ours  the 
people  must  settle  the  issues  of  state  if  they  are  solved 
at  all.  But  the  people  can  not  be  expected  to  solve 
problems  that  they  know  little  or  nothing  about. 

Even  our  statesmen  have  been  densely  ignorant  of 
the  forces  they  were  trying  to  manipulate.  Jackson's 
hobby  was  banks,  and  his  administration  was  charac- 
terized chiefly  by  banking  legislation.  Yet  it  is  difficult 
to  imagine  how  any  person  could  be  more  ignorant  of 
the  principles  of  banking  than  Jackson  was.  He  was 
actuated  instead  by  economic  superstition  and  local 
prejudice.  Yet  the  masses  blindly  followed  their  blind 
guide  as  a  popular  hero.  The  railroad  regulations  with 
which  our  legislatures  and  congress  busied  themselves 
between  1870  and  1900  were  based  on  the  erroneous 
supposition  that  competition  is  an  automatic  regulator 
of  rates.  In  the  very  midst  of  this  period — in  1884 — 
Hadley  pointed  out  their  error ;  but  his  technical  advice 
was  ignored  for  twenty  years ;  meantime  the  people  and 
the  railroads  were  both  the  victims  of  their  own  and 
their  legislators'  ignorance.  In  1899  Ely  expounded 
the  scientific  principles  governing  monopoly;  but  states- 
men, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  predicted  its  futility, 
have  insisted  on  enacting  trust-busting  laws  to  this  very 


246        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

day,  and  all  to  no  avail.  Similar  illustrations  could  be 
enumerated  almost  without  limit.  In  fact,  economic 
legislation  has  almost  invariably  bungled.  President 
Wilson  was  the  first  prominent  statesman  who  has  fully 
understood  the  importance  of  consulting  scientific 
experts  instead  of  politicians  in  the  legislative  solution 
of  economic  problems. 

But  even  yet  the  people  are  densely  ignorant  of  social 
science.  Such  economic  principles  as  have  percolated 
into  the  lay  mind  are  usually  a  century  out  of  date,  and 
are  therefore  utterly  inapplicable  to  the  modern 
machinofacture  regime.  Popular  misconceptions  of 
monopoly,  labor,  corporation  finance,  taxation,  credit, 
tariff,  immigration,  etc.,  are  as  ludicrous  as  the  eigh- 
teenth century  New  England  custom  of  applying  a 
powder  made  of  charred  toads  for  the  cure  of  skin 
diseases.  For  nearly  two  generations  we  tried  to  settle 
the  tariff  question  by  wager  of  political  battle,  as  if 
we  were  still  in  the  middle  ages ;  and  it  remains  to  be 
seen  whether  or  not  we  shall  resume  the  farce.  Even 
the  social  point  of  view  is  absent,  and  the  old  indi- 
vidualistic philosophy  still  dominates  the  popular  mind. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  failure  of  the  public  to  under- 
stand the  term  social  justice.  The  individualistic  point 
of  view  makes  them  try  to  attribute  the  results  of  social 
injustice  to  individual  incompetence.  The  we-fallacy 
is  all  but  universal,  and  prosperity  is  shibboleth.  Per- 
sons who  lack  the  social  point  of  view  seldom  stop  to 
inquire  whether  it  is  we  or  us  that  are  prosperous. 
And  this  sociological  ignorance  is  especially  charac- 
teristic of  the  middle  class,  who  enjoy  the  prestige  of 
prosperity,  social  standing,  and  education. 

The  will  of  the  people,  an  English  writer  says,  must 


THE    NEED    FOR   SOCIAL   SCIENCE  247 

be  "reasonably  organized."  There  is  food  for  thought 
in  that  phrase.  "Organized"  :  unless  the  people  are 
agreed  as  to  how  to  get  what  they  want  they  can  never 
accomplish  it.  For  lack  of  such  agreement  popular 
movements  often  fail.  Truly,  as  this  writer  quotes 
Hegel,  "the  people  is  that  part  of  the  state  that  does 
not  really  know  what  it  wants."  But  vested  interests 
are  never  disorganized.  "Reasonably  organized."  Un- 
less their  program  is  sound,  obviously  it  can  not  long 
be  agreed  upon  because  it  will  fail  to  get  results.  It 
must  not  only  be  sound ;  its  promoters  must  know  it  to 
be  sound,  and  why.  Otherwise  there  is  a  fatal  loss  of 
motion.  But  economic  ignorance  and  superstition  can 
never  furnish  such  a  program ;  only  science !  The  will 
to  understand  is  the  first  item  on  the  prescription  for 
the  cure  of  the  social  unrest.  Until  the  people  under- 
stand the  social  problem  there  can  be  no  solution  to  it.1 
So  far  as  managing  the  great  economic  machine  is 
concerned,  the  American  people  are  like  babes  in  the 
woods.  They  have  learned  that  nature  is  complex  and 
intricate;  and  that,  to  manipulate  it,  the  complex  and 
intricate  sciences,  involving  a  knowledge  of  nature, 
must  be  thoroughly  mastered.  We  have  passed  the 
stage  where  we  let  ignorant  old  women  tamper  with 
the  lives  of  sick  children,  or  put  any  common-sense 
jack-of-all-trades  in  control  of  a  great  electric  power 
plant.  But  the  great  economic  and  social  forces  that 
play  about  us,  and  upon  which  our  happiness  and  very 
existence  depend,  we  are  ludicrously  ignorant  of.    Even 

1  Two  recent  pieces  of  high-grade  fiction  have  apparently  been 
written  for  the  express  purpose  of  arousing  the  American  public 
to  the  importance  of  informing  themselves  on  economic,  social, 
political  and  international  problems.  They  are  "In  a  Far  Coun- 
try," by  Winston  Churchill,  and  "Blind,"  by  Ernest  Poole. 


248        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

our  educated  men  are  ignorant,  being  educated  only  in 
other  lines.  We  are  too  ignorant  even  to  know  that 
we  are  ignorant.  For  example,  how  utterly  helpless 
we  are  in  the  grip  of  the  high  cost  of  living!  We  are 
capable  of  nothing  more  effective  than  excitement  and 
anger.  Our  intelligence  regarding  it  is  on  the  level 
of  our  ancestors'  when  they  had  the  scourge  of  witch- 
craft to  contend  with.  We  have  wasted  the  rich 
natural  resources  of  a  new  land,  like  a  herd  of  cattle 
trampling1  curiously  around  a  new  pasture  of  tall 
clover;  we  have  "run  the  government"  for  sixty  years 
by  programs  that  were  our  boast,  but  which,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  were  precipitating  and  aggravating  the  condi- 
tions by  which  we  are  at  present  so  hysterically  alarmed. 
What  a  mess,  indeed,  the  older  generation  have  be- 
queathed us,  with  their  ignorant,  conceited  blundering! 
And  now  we  have  this  "red"  unrest  sweeping  over  us 
like  an  epidemic;  before  which  we  are  as  helpless  as 
Englishmen  were  before  the  Black  Death  in  the  thir- 
teenth century.  What  they  needed  then  was  sanitary 
science,  if  there  had  only  been  such  a  thing!  What 
we  need  now  is  social  science,  if  only  we  know  that 
there  is  such  a  thing!  We  can  never  cure  radicalism 
with  incantations  and  executions.  We  can  only  cure 
it  with  knowledge.  We  must  understand  the  law  of 
monopoly  price,  Ricardo's  "iron  law  of  wages,"  why 
immigration  scarcely  increases  the  population  at  all, 
Gresham's  law  of  cheap  money,  whether  or  not  sun 
spots  cause  financial  panics,  and  why  the  right  of 
"freedom  of  contract"  has  become  a  bulwark  of  tyr- 
rany.  You  can't  get  honey-producing  insects  that  will 
work  all  night  by  crossing  lightning  bugs  and  honey 
bees;  it's  contrary  to  nature;  and  if  you  want  to  help 


THE    NEED    FOR   SOCIAL   SCIENCE  249 

solve  the  social  problem,  get  a  good  standard  book  on 
economics  or  sociology  and  begin  studying  it  diligently 
and  humbly.  Perhaps  you  may  be  one  of  those  to 
understand  something  about  natural  law  in  the  social 
world. 

The  "reds"  are  studying  economics!  They  know 
their  Carl  Marx  as  your  grandmother  knew  her  Bible. 
The  socialists  are  the  best-read  group  of  unlettered 
people  in  America  to-day,  so  far  as  economics  is  con- 
cerned; and  they  are  as  ready  with  their  answers  to 
the  orthodox  economics,  as  they  call  it,  as  the  hard- 
shelled  Baptists  were  to  meet  arguments  against  im- 
mersion. But  as  for  the  opponents  of  radicalism,  they 
are  capable  as  a  rule  of  nothing  but  a  dazed  and  out- 
raged silence,  or  else  a  pointless,  inarticulate  vehemence. 
This  is  the  kind  of  argument  that  ends,  not  in  con- 
viction, but  in  fisticuffs. 

An  appeal  to  social  science  is  absolutely  necessary. 
We  proudly  claim  that  this  is  an  age  of  science.  The 
achievements  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  due  chiefly 
to  the  advancement  and  application  of  natural  science. 
Are  not  the  American  people  now  prepared  to  realize 
that  we  have  like  advantages  to  gain  by  the  application 
of  social  science?  Or  do  they  still  fail  to  realize  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  social  science?  To  distribute 
what  social  science  we  now  possess  among  the  people, 
where  it  may  be  put  to  use,  is  one  of  our  urgent  needs. 
For  it  is  not  only  necessary  that  we  should  have  leaders 
who  know;  it  is  necessary,  in  a  democracy  governed 
like  ours,  that  the  masses  of  the  people  also  should 
know ;  at  least  that  they  should  know  enough  to  know 
whom  to  follow.  It  is  an  axiom  of  social  science  that 
in  a  democracy  public  opinion  makes  history,  and  that 


25O        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

public  opinion  depends,  not  upon  the  leadership  of  the 
intellectual  aristocracy  only,  but  also  upon  the  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 
It  is  necessary,  therefore,  that  there  be  a  generous 
sprinkling  among  us  of  those  who  really  know  some- 
thing scientific  about  our  social  problems  and  their 
solutions,  experts  to  whom  we  may  turn  for  leadership. 
But  it  is  equally  necessary,  and  at  present  a  more  press- 
ing and  urgent  need,  that  there  be  many  citizens  in 
every  community  who  are  sufficiently  well  informed 
along  these  lines  to  mold  the  sentiment  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  live,  so  that  scientific  principles, 
rather  than  partisan  superstition,  may  be  woven  into 
the  fabric  of  public  opinion. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  inquire  the  causes  of  our 
popular  ignorance  of  social  science.  There  are  no 
doubt  numerous  reasons ;  but  the  fault  lies  chiefly  with 
our  educational  system.  What  little  civics  we  have 
taught  in  our  elementary  schools  has  been  formal,  at 
least  until  very  recently.  We  spend  more  time  teach- 
ing the  boys  and  girls  how  the  globe  was  circumnavi- 
gated in  1 5 19  than  how  the  anti-trust  law  has  been 
circumvented  since  1890.  And  our  high  schools  teach 
algebra,  geometry,  ancient  history,  and  Latin,  but 
almost  no  economics.  Education  is  designed  to  adjust 
us  to  our  environment ;  apparently  our  educators  do  not 
yet  discern  what  our  environment  is :  not  savages,  but 
profiteers;  not  triangles,  but  corners;  not  Catiline  and 
Ariovistus,  but  Haywood  and  Gary.  To  date  our 
public  schools  have  been  well  nigh  failures  so  far  as 
concerns  training  for  the  complex  duties  of  citizenship. 

The  colleges  and  universities  alone  cannot  solve  this 
problem,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  leaders  alone, 


THE   NEED    FOR   SOCIAL   SCIENCE  25 1 

whom  the  colleges  are  supposed  to  train,  cannot  enact 
reforms  without  popular  support.  The  people  them- 
selves must  know.  It  is  a  task  for  distributive  scholar- 
ship. Therefore  we  intuitively  turn  to  the  high  schools. 
The  high  schools  must  frankly  take  up  the  task  of 
teaching  economics  and  sociology,  lots  of  them,  and  in  a 
form  adapted  to  the  intellects  and  emotions  of  adoles- 
cence. Social  science  ought  to  be  the  core  of  the  high 
school  curriculum.  Every  student  with  sufficient  men- 
tality to  understand  it  should  get  at  least  four  years 
of  it.  And  let  us  say  frankly  that  other  subjects  ought 
to  give  way  to  make  at  least  that  much  room  for  it. 
What  an  absurdity,  in  this  blessed  year  of  our  Lord, 
1 92 1,  to  be  spending  the  valuable  time  of  our  high 
school  adolescents  on  quadratic  equations  and  the  third 
declension,  when  they  will  be  called  upon  in  less  than 
ten  years  to  exercise  intelligent  judgment  on  the  tariff 
question,  immigration,  the  single  tax,  and  a  score  of 
other  problems  that  democracy  must  solve  on  pain  of 
death.  The  public  high  school  is  the  institution,  and 
the  only  available  institution,  that  we  can  look  to  for 
the  successful  performance  of  this  great  task.  Only 
by  systematic  instruction  of  our  youth  in  social  science 
during  the  course  of  their  high  school  career  can  the 
knowledge  be  diffused  which  is  necessary  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  social  problems  of  the  times. 

And  does  it  not  seem  as  if  the  high  school  had  been 
providentially  raised  up  for  the  performance  of  this 
very  service  ?  Think  how  it  has  grown  during  the  past 
fifty  years  to  its  present  proportions!  In  i860  there 
were  only  forty  public  high  schools.  In  1870  there 
were  one  hundred  and  sixty;  in  1880,  eight  hundred; 
in  1890,  twenty-five  hundred;  in  1900,  six  thousand, 


252        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

and,  in  1910,  twelve  thousand  with  an  attendance  of  a 
little  over  one  million  students.  To-day  there  are 
more  than  15,000  high  schools;  and  there  is  every  in- 
dication that  the  rural  school  consolidation  movement 
will  double  that  number  in  a  few  years  more.  And 
as  for  the  high  school  itself,  this  function  suggests 
a  solution  to  the  greatest  difficulty  that  confronts  it. 
It  has  not  yet  found  itself !  It  does  not  understand  its 
own  vocation.  It  hesitates  confusedly  between  the 
cultural  aim  of  its  education  and  the  industrial  aim, 
blind  to  the  fact  that  the  aim  for  which  the  God  of 
democracy  has  called  it  into  being  is  to  prepare  our 
citizenry  for  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship  in  a 
complicated  social  environment  like  ours.  The  central 
business  of  the  high  school  is  to  teach  economics, 
sociology,  civics  and  history,  so  as  to  train  a  citizenry 
that  is  intelligently  informed  on  public  questions.  All 
the  other  aims  of  high  school  teaching  should  be 
grouped  around  the  civic  aim.  As  soon  as  high  school 
principals  see  that  clearly  the  high  school  will  become 
articulate,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  this  change  is 
coming  is  one  of  the  most  encouraging  signs  of  the 
times. 

But  that  is  not  enough.  The  social  crisis  may  not 
wait  for  a  generation  of  high-school  graduates  to  be 
trained.  More  rapid  means  of  disseminating  the  truth 
must  be  devised.  In  the  present  emergency  sociologists 
and  economists  should  devote  themselves  diligently,  for 
the  time  being  at  least,  to  distributive  scholarship. 
Every  student  of  social  science,  whether  professional  or 
amateur,  should  do  what  he  can,  and  do  it  now.  Those 
who  teach  should  direct  their  teaching  more  explicitly 
toward    preparedness    for    the    social    readjustment. 


THE    NEED    FOR   SOCIAL   SCIENCE  253 

Those  who  can  write  should  offer  to  the  popular  press 
such  compositions  as  they  think  will  be  available  and 
useful.  Occasions  for  public  addresses  should  be  im- 
proved, or  even  solicited,  for  spreading  the  sacred 
knowledge  abroad.  Ministers  should  be  urged,  in 
private  conversation,  in  their  assemblies,  and  through 
their  denominational  papers,  to  study  social  science  and 
preach  applied  Christianity.  Social  study  classes  should 
be  organized  in  connection  with  Sunday  schools,  home 
missionary  societies,  women's  clubs,  and  all  sorts  of 
social  organizations.  Community  centers  ought  to  be 
organized  and  utilized  for  the  discussion  of  civic  ques- 
tions. Extension  agencies,  chautauquas,  lyceums,  etc., 
should  be  induced  to  retail  social  science  in  popular 
form.  All  sorts  of  labor,  professional  and  other  clubs 
should  study  and  discuss  economic  and  social  problems. 
It  might  even  be  possible  to  convince  some  of  the 
women  that  a  mind  well  stored  with  social  sciences 
will  be  worth  as  much  to  Uncle  Sam  in  time  of  peace 
as  a  pair  of  socks  was  in  time  of  war.  Even  the 
Gideons  might  be  induced  to  put  little  text-books  in 
economics  into  hotel  bedrooms  so  that  guests  might 
read  economics  while  they  wait.  Let  the  preachers 
deliver  series  of  sermons  on  The  Wastes  of  Fashion, 
The  Function  of  the  Family,  The  Spiritual  Unrest, 
The  Rights  of  Childhood,  Hospitality  to  Immigrants, 
and  the  like.  Let  us  organize  community  centers  and 
have  debates.  Let  each  of  us  buy  a  good  book  on 
economics,  read  it  carefully,  mark  it,  and  then  pass  it 
on  to  a  neighbor.  If  there  was  ever  occasion  for  a 
fad  there  is  occasion  now  for  a  popular  fad  of  studying 
scientific  sociology  and  economics. 

But  if  this  sort  of  service  is  to  be  effectively  rendered 


254        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

the  enterprise  should  be  organized.  Such  work  can 
not  be  done  by  isolated  individuals;  it  must  be  given 
the  prestige  of  some  dignified  and  appropriate  auspices, 
and  the  efficiency  of  a  comprehensive  program.  There 
ought  to  be  an  effective  national  organization  back  of 
this  propaganda.  To  organize  and  carry  out  such  a 
propaganda  is  the  American  social  scientists'  oppor- 
tunity to  serve  their  country. 

The  twentieth  century,  if  it  is  to  be  a  century  of 
achievement  at  all,  must  be  a  century  of  achievement 
in  the  social  field.  We  have  no  lack  of  conveniences, 
luxuries,  goods  and  resources.  If  we  are  not  happy 
it  is  because  we  do  not  know  how  to  live  with  our- 
selves and  with  each  other.  It  is  our  world  of  social 
relations  of  which  we  are  not  masters.  We  know 
how  to  handle  that  no  better  than  our  grandparents 
knew  how  to  handle  contagious  diseases ;  social  forces 
are  as  unharnessed  for  us  as  natural  forces  were  for 
the  ancients.  Epidemics  of  social  unrest  and  famines 
of  social  peace  sweep  over  us  helpless.  All  our  mate- 
rial achievements  will  serve  only  to  distract  and  in  the 
end  to  destroy  us  unless  we  can  solve  our  social  prob- 
lems. Nor  is  their  solution  a  matter  of  luck,  hocus- 
pocus,  incantations  or  pious  faith.  It  is  a  matter  of 
science  and  the  application  thereof  :  social  science !  The 
monopoly  problem  will  not  be  solved  by  bleeding  the 
patient;  nor  radicalism  by  applying  a  mustard  plaster. 
We  must  use  the  specifics.  Scientific  surgery,  thera- 
peutics and  sanitation  must  be  applied,  each  in  its  place, 
or  there  will  be  no  recovery.  Without  social  science, 
and  a  wide  popular  knowledge  of  it,  there  can  be  no 
cure  for  the  social  unrest. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ART   AND   RECREATION 

ART  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
means  of  happiness  and  harmony  that  civiliza- 
tion has  at  its  disposal ;  but  no  people  has  ever 
yet  arrived  at  a  stage  of  civilization  high  enough  to 
utilize  it  to  any  very  great  advantage.  Cultivation  of 
beauty  and  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  is  one  of  the 
great  undeveloped  resources  of  democracy;  but  very 
few  persons  realize  that  fact  as  yet.  It  is  a  thankless 
task  to  plead  for  popular  art  as  a  cure  for  radicalism, 
for  only  by  exceptional  sociologists,  philosophers  and 
educators  has  the  social  function  of  art  been  adequately 
discerned.  Nevertheless,  a  free,  self -directing  people, 
with  leisure  and  wealth  at  their  disposal,  will  never  find 
happiness  and  harmony  till  they  make  very  much  larger 
use  of  art  than  has  ever  been  dreamed  of  before.  It 
will  come  to  its  own  in  the  new  super-civilization  of 
the  future. 

In  the  first  place  we  have  the  wrong  idea  of  what 
the  word  art  signifies.  Mostly  it  suggests  oil  paint- 
ings, marble  statuary,  and  big  public  buildings  to  house 
them  in.  It  also  connotes,  in  a  vague  but  insistent 
way,  a  sort  of  exclusive,  high-browed  snobbery.  People 
pretend  to  like  art  because  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  high- 
toned  taste  to  affect.  But  if  you  go  to  an  ordinary  art 
gallery  of  a  Sunday  afternoon  what  do  you  see?    The 

255 


256        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

place  is  thronged  with  some  nineteen  or  twenty  sight- 
seers, mostly  from  out  of  town,  while  the  people  are 
at  the  movies.  Much  of  the  statuary  is  hideous  old 
stuff  from  China  or  the  middle  ages  that  really  has 
little  but  historic  or  anthropological  significance.  Many 
of  the  old  paintings  have  no  charm  but  the  name  of 
the  artist  and  the  marvel  that  he  could  do  as  well  as 
he  did,  considering  the  technique  of  the  times  in  which 
he  lived.  Take  Rembrandt's  "Adulteress"  for  ex- 
ample. The  expressions  of  form,  pose  and  features 
do  not  begin  to  compare  in  life-likeness  to  what  one 
can  see  on  the  advertising  pages  of  any  good  magazine. 
As  a  whole  the  picture  gives  a  very  tame  interpretation 
of  the  situation  it  depicts.  The  coloring  is  rich  but 
dull.  But  it  is  a  Rembrandt,  don't  you  know ;  and  one 
must  say  "Oh !"  and  "Ah !"  The  plain  truth  is  that 
photography,  printing,  and  the  modern  technique  of 
picture-making  have  carried  us  as  much  beyond  what 
the  best  picture-makers  could  do  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  as  we  have  improved  over  that  century  in  most 
other  lines.  Without  discounting  in  the  least  the  true 
art  of  good  painting,  nor  the  first-class  contribution 
the  early  masters  made  to  its  development,  the  fact 
remains  that  many  modern  paintings  even  are  nothing 
but  indistinguishable  jumbles  of  lights,  shapes  and 
exaggerated  color  that  certainly  "never  were  on  land 
nor  sea."  And  then  if  they  have  glass  over  them, 
about  all  one  can  see  is  himself.  And  yet  we  pretend 
to  like  all  this  stuff  because  it  is  supposed  to  be  "Aht." 
The  same  sort  of  remarks  may  be  made  about  grand 
opera.  You  pay  $1 .65  to  stand  up  for  two  hours  where 
you  can  look  at  the  broad  expanse  of  some  fat  woman's 
naked  back;  and  you  study  the  parallel  columns  of  your 


ART   AND   RECREATION  257 

libretto  in  a  bad  light  so  as  to  try  to  get  some  idea  of 
what  it's  all  about.  But  then  you  are  conscious  of 
contributing  your  part,  for  there  has  to  be  an  eager 
mass  of  the  hoi  polloi  standing  up  around  the  edges  so 
as  to  make  a  background  for  the  "beauty  and  the 
chivalry"  of  the  subscribers  in  the  seven-dollar  seats. 
It  takes  the  "rail  birds"  to  set  off  the  snobs.  It  is  true 
that  the  music,  the  properties,  and  sometimes  the  acting 
are  beautiful ;  but  the  plain  truth  is  that  grand  opera  as 
now  conducted  is  attractive  chiefly  because  it  is  an 
exclusive  style  show.  The  style  show  interferes  with 
the  art  show.  The  foreign  languages  are  used  because 
America  has  not  yet  developed  self-assertion  enough 
to  stand  on  her  own  feet  artistically.  The  whole  thing 
is  ridiculously,  disgustingly  undemocratic,  and  tends 
by  its  exclusiveness  to  discourage,  rather  than  to  en- 
courage, the  artistic  development  of  persons  by  the 
name  of  Smith,  Jones  or  O'Brien,  whom  nature  has 
given  superbly  beautiful  voices.  Aristocratic  grand 
opera  ought  to  be  laughed  at  till  it  takes  out  naturaliza- 
tion papers  and  democratizes  itself. 

All  of  which  is  a  round-about  way  of  saying  that  we 
ordinarily  use  the  word  art  with  altogether  too  narrow 
a  significance.  Art  really  includes  all  forms  of  ex- 
pressing the  values  of  life,  however  homely,  and  all 
devices  for  beautifying  our  surroundings,  however 
commonplace.  Art  includes  literature,  of  course,  and 
literature  not  only  includes  the  great  classics,  but  also 
wholesome,  well-written  fiction,  and  sweet,  charming 
bed-time  stories  for  children.  Music,  in  any  but 
"suggestive"  forms,  is  included  in  art.  Art  includes 
the  elegant  and  pleasing  use  of  one's  mother  tongue 
in  common  conversation,  the  attractive  arrangement  of 


258        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

well  selected,  even  if  inexpensive,  house  furnishings, 
and  the  beautifying  of  door-yard,  front  and  back,  with 
plants  and  paint.  Art,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
masses  would  profit  most  by  it,  includes  even  coaxing 
the  dainty  song  wrens,  and  exterminating  the  English 
sparrows,  with  their  hideous,  everlasting  rasp.  Art, 
like  everything  else,  needs  to  be  democratized.  And 
when  it  is  democratized  art  will  take  its  place  with 
religion  as  one  of  the  great  ennobling  influences  of  life. 

The  function  of  great  art  is  to  present  to  the  imagi- 
nation, and  to  motivate  in  the  souls  of  the  people,  the 
great  dominating  ideals  of  the  age.  For  this  purpose 
we  have  no  better  means  than  art.  Those  great  ideals 
are  the  unattained  goals  of  aspiration  and  endeavor. 
They  are  as  vast  and  vague  as  the  geography  of  an 
unexplored  continent.  They  cannot  be  described,  for 
they  are  only  longed  for,  not  experienced.  Only  art 
can  symbolize  them  to  the  imagination.  Besides,  they 
must  be  emotionalized.  That,  also,  can  be  done  only 
by  art. 

For  example,  the  solidarity  of  his  tribe  was  sym- 
bolized by  the  Alaskan's  totem  pole.  The  dream  of 
world  empire — the  prototype  of  universal  brotherhood 
— was  symbolized,  presented  and  vitalized  by  the  archi- 
tecture and  mural  decorations  of  the  Assyrians,  Baby- 
lonians and  Romans.  The  infinite,  invisible  world  and 
its  authoritative  control  over  human  affairs  was  sym- 
bolized by  the  great  cathedrals  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  joys  of  beauty,  grace  and  action  were  symbolized 
by  the  various  forms  of  Greek  art. 

And  now  the  world  is  just  conceiving  new  ideals: 
the  limitless  perfectibility  of  the  human  personality, 


ART   AND   RECREATION  259 

and  the  limitless  perfectibility  of  human  society.  »What 
might  not  our  lives  be  worth  to  ourselves  and  others 
if  all  the  best  that  is  latent  within  them  could  be 
brought  to  self-realization !  What  a  world  this  might 
become  if  we  could  only  solve  our  social  maladjust- 
ments and  perfect  social  justice!  Such  a  life  and  such 
a  world  are  the  dominant  ideals  of  the  age,  vaguely 
discerned  though  they  may  be  as  yet  by  many  minds. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  creative  art  might  be  a 
very  important  factor  in  the  work  of  social  readjust- 
ment which  the  western  world  is  now  forced  to  under- 
take. Already  the  social  ideals  and  aspirations  of  the 
present  age  are  being  set  forth  in  art.  A  considerable 
list  of  fiction,  and  a  few  great  dramas  might  be 
enumerated.  Numerous  short  poems  and  occasional 
hymns  have  appeared ;  also  some  paintings,  and  espe- 
cially some  noble  sculpture.  It  is  a  pity  that  this  art 
is  not  more  generally  known,  so  that  it  might  the 
better  perform  its  function.  And  we  need  much  more 
of  it.  Especially  do  we  need  some  one  who  will  set 
the  people  to  singing  the  hopes  of  the  social  awakening. 
But  is  not  the  time  ripe  for  first-class  art :  great  music, 
great  epic,  and  dramatic  poetry?  Never  were  there 
world  movements  more  worthy  to  inspire  first-class 
creations.  And  how  powerfully  they  would  motivate 
the  age !  Plant  the  ideals  of  the  age,  therefore,  in  the 
minds  of  your  young  men  and  your  maidens;  who 
knows  which  of  them  may  see  the  visions  and  dream 
the  dreams  of  consummate  genius?  There  never  was 
a  greater  call  for  the  work  of  artists,  in  all  fields  of 
art,  than  now,  when  the  world  is  struggling  toward 
great  new  ideals  as  yet  vaguely  discerned  by  many; 


26o        CAUSES   AND    CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

never  a  deeper  need  for  art  participation  and  art  appre- 
ciation on  the  part  of  the  masses  than  now,  when  we 
are  agitated  by  the  social  crisis. 

The  function  of  major  art  is  to  inculcate  the  great 
ideals  of  the  age.  But  art  also  has  numerous  minor 
functions  in  social  life,  and  for  the  performance  of 
these  also  it  ought  to  be  diligently  cultivated  by  the 
promoters  of  the  new  society.  In  the  first  place,  art 
serves  as  a  safeguard  against  temptation.  The  vices, 
such  as  drunkenness,  licentiousness,  gambling,  together 
with  sheer  laziness  and  shiftlessness,  are  among  the 
greatest  handicaps  to  civilization.  The  instincts  of 
youth  render  them  susceptible  to  these  vices ;  and  every- 
where these  vices  have  their  cleverly  baited  traps  set  out 
to  catch  the  young.  There  is  no  better  protection  to  a 
young  person  than  the  ability  and  opportunity  to  have 
a  wholesome  good  time  at  home,  or  in  some  other  safe 
environment,  with  music,  good  books,  the  drama,  etc. 
It  helps  immensely  in  the  rearing  of  a  family  if  the 
children  can  be  taught  to  enjoy  good  reading  and  good 
music.  The  good  reading  should  begin  with  bed-time 
stories  told  by  mother,  grow  up  through  the  various 
stages  of  juvenile  literature,  and  culminate  in  the  best 
periodicals  and  classics.  Such  tastes,  and  the  habit  of 
gratifying  them,  provide  for  innumerable  hours  of 
happiness,  that  might  otherwise  be  filled  with  temp- 
tation. 

And  good  music  is  only  second  to  good  reading. 
For  example,  two  brothers  in  their  early  'teens  play, 
the  one  a  violin  and  the  other  a  'cello.  They  like  to 
play  as  a  duet :  "Where  is  My  Wandering  Boy  To- 
night?" their  mother  accompanying  them  on  the  piano. 
Well,  that  mother's  boys  are  safe  and  happy  at  home, 


ART    AND   RECREATION  261 

and  safe  because  they  are  happy.  Some  other  mother's 
boy  may  be  wandering  away  into  the  snares  of  vice, 
but  not  hers.     Their  music  is  their  moral  insurance. 

Now,  what  is  good  for  one  family  is  good  for  all 
the  families  of  a  nation.  The  difference  between  a 
family  (or  a  nation)  of  young  people  who  have  ac- 
quired such  tastes,  and  another  that  have  not,  is  likely 
to  be  the  difference  between  hoodlumism  and  true  cul- 
ture. What  one  mother  does  with  music,  every  family, 
every  school,  every  church,  every  municipal  govern- 
ment, ought  to  be  doing  for  its  young  people.  And  not 
only  with  music,  but  with  dramatization  and  other 
forms  of  art.  "Bolshevism"  has  no  great  affinity  for 
good  community  music  and  dramatics.  To  furnish  all 
these  things  at  public  expense  would  be  an  experiment 
in  socialism  involving  no  great  risk,  but  full  of  promise 
for  a  new  generation  of  happy,  moral  young  people. 

In  the  second  place,  art  inculcates  and  enforces  the 
custom-tried  ideals  and  the  traditional  virtues.  Every- 
body understands  how  poetry,  fiction,  song,  pictures, 
statuary,  etc.,  are  utilized  to  teach  morality.  Teachers 
of  morals  always  have  made  use  of  such  materials,  and 
no  doubt  always  will.  Very  much  more  use  might  be 
made  of  them  for  this  purpose.  The  reason  that  art 
is  a  positive  moral  force  is  because  it  furnishes  means 
of  expressing  the  best  and  most  ennobling  emotions  of 
human  life.  Essentially  that  is  what  art  is:  a  means 
of  expressing  values.  Not  stating,  nor  describing,  nor 
explaining,  but  expressing.  Causing  the  mind  ad- 
dressed actually  to  feel  the  value  expressed.  Art  that 
does  not  express  real  value,  and  stimulate  the  corre- 
sponding feeling  in  response,  is  not  art  at  all;  it  is 
merely  showing  off.     But  whatever  we  express,  in  this 


262        CAUSES    AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

vital  sense  of  the  word,  becomes  part  of  our  characters. 
When  art  gives  to  the  masses  a  means  of  expressing 
noble  feelings,  it  tends  to  lift  them  to  the  level  of  the 
feelings  expressed.  To  sing  a  noble  hymn  tends  to 
make  one  reverent  and  pious ;  to  recite  a  noble  poem  or 
oration  plants  its  noble  sentiments  in  the  soul ;  to  con- 
template long  and  intelligently  Rodin's  "The  Hand  of 
God"  makes  the  observer  himself  in  some  degree  a 
factor  in  the  evolution  of  an  ideal  society. 

Another  function  of  art  is  to  soothe  the  nerves  of 
the  people  and  make  them  happy.  To  this  end  it  should 
be  used  to  beautify  the  surroundings  of  the  common 
people.  If  the  reader  has  imagination  enough  to 
realize  the  effect  it  has  upon  one's  nerves  to  live  in  a 
neighborhood  decorated  chiefly  with  cinders,  tin  cans, 
bare  brick  walls  and  smoke,  as  compared  with  living  in 
a  neighborhood  beautified  with  green  lawns,  vine-clad 
walls,  dainty  gardens  and  native  song  birds,  he  can 
build  up  some  notion  of  what  the  artistic  impulse  might 
do  for  a  people  among  whom  it  was  stimulated  and 
gratified  instead  of  outraged  and  stifled. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  prevent  this  line  of  argu- 
ment from  degenerating  into  anticlimax.  The  reader's 
imagination  fails  him;  the  thing  is  so  remote!  The 
masses  are  so  destitute  of  refining  art.  The  home 
surroundings  of  millions  of  workers  who  live  in  city 
slums,  in  mill  cities  and  mining  villages,  on  compost- 
littered  farms,  and  in  the  typical  little  country  town, 
are  almost  universally  hideous.  Rag-time  music, 
screeching  phonographs,  and  bawdy  songs  are  the  rule. 
Beauty  is  a  stranger  to  their  lives,  and  loveliness  is 
alien.  It  seems  well-nigh  impossible  even  to  imagine  a 
world  in  which  the  really  good  things  in  music,  pic- 


ART   AND   RECREATION  263 

tures,  literature,  drama,  are  accessible  to  all,  and  in 
which  domestic  art  in  its  several  forms  brings  forth  its 
perfect  work.  But  in  such  a  world  Bastiles  would  be 
stormed  with  votes  instead  of  with  pikes  and  cannon ! 

The  machinofacture  regime  has  produced  hideous- 
ness  by  wholesale.  Nature  covers  up  her  confusion, 
waste  and  debris,  half  the  year  with  greenery  and  the 
other  half  with  snow.  As  long  as  man  was  closely  in 
touch  with  nature  his  craving  for  the  beautiful  was  gen- 
erously provided  for.  But  now  we  have  "industrial 
areas,"  "slum  sections,"  "railroad  districts,"  "the 
smoke  nuisance,"  "the  noise  of  traffic,"  "bill  boards," 
"mining  villages,"  "mill  towns,"  "oil  regions"  and  "cut- 
over  districts."  And  as  a  result  we  have  harassed 
minds  and  discontentment.  Eventually  we  shall  learn 
how  to  beautify  all  these  scars  on  the  face  of  nature. 
Then  once  more  we  shall  have  beauty  instead  of  ugli- 
ness, peace  of  mind  instead  of  restlessness,  social  tran- 
quillity instead  of  social  unrest.  The  new  age  is  very 
greatly  in  need  of  that. 

Still  another  use  of  art  is  to  furnish  wholesome 
recreation.  By  this  use  it  may  be  made  to  add  im- 
mensely to  the  sum  total  of  happiness ;  and  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  demo- 
cratic society  that  all  its  citizens  be  happy  together. 
Moreover,  it  furnishes  a  source  of  happiness  that  in- 
creases in  proportion  to  the  number  who  share  it.  The 
sharing  of  happiness  strengthens  the  "we- feeling"  and 
fosters  harmony  among  individuals  and  between  social 
classes.  In  this  way  the  popular  arts  contribute  to  the 
social  effectiveness  of  the  family  and  other  fundamental 
social  institutions.  The  above  illustration  serves.  The 
boys  are  not  only  safe,  but  their  heartstrings  are  being 


264        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

fastened  to  their  home.  A  boy's  or  a  man's  home 
ought,  for  the  profoundest  sociological  reasons,  to  be 
the  most  attractive  place  in  the  world  for  him.  Music 
and  good  books  and  the  ability  to  enjoy  them,  beautiful 
surroundings  in  rooms  and  yard,  all  help  to  make  it  so. 

And  not  only  the  family,  but  the  local  community 
and  the  play  groups  of  children  and  young  people. 
These  are  what  Cooley  calls  the  primary  social  groups. 
They  are  primary  in  several  senses,  but  among  the  rest 
because  the  health  and  welfare  of  society  depends  upon 
their  functioning  normally.  If  the  people  of  a  com- 
munity, and  the  natural  groups  of  young  people,  have 
a  happy,  good  time  together  in  perfectly  wholesome 
ways  society  is  sound  and  healthy.  The  use  of  art  for 
purposes  of  recreation  creates  a  common  happiness  and 
binds  people  together  in  the  bonds  of  good  feeling  as 
few  other  common  interests  can.  In  the  new  democ- 
racy all  classes  will  share  together  in  the  use  of  art  for 
purposes  of  wholesome  entertainment.  That  is  one  of 
the  ways  that  our  descendants  will  enjoy  social  peace, 
where  we  now  suffer  social  discord  and  unrest  because 
we  envy  each  other's  ability  to  display  luxuries  that 
satisfy  nobody. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  artists  do  not  take  a  more 
social  view  of  their  art.  As  a  rule  their  conception  of 
its  aim  is  individualistic.  They  are  as  much  in  need  of  a 
social  awakening  as  the  ministers  and  teachers;  and  it 
is  scarcely  less  important  to  the  republic.  All  artists 
should  be  students  of  sociology,  so  as  to  get  a  vision  of 
the  service  they  might  render.  But  their  service  in  a 
democracy  is  not  in  catering  to  the  few  who  can  pay 
high  prices  to  come  in  evening  dress  and  hear  a  vir- 
tuoso; it  is  rather  to  the  masses.    They  must  be  mis- 


ART   AND   RECREATION  265 

sionaries  to  the  multitude,  and  prophets  of  the  new- 
age  that  is  dawning.  A  musician  could  do  as  much 
good  in  an  ordinary  community  as  a  minister,  if  he  had 
the  social  point  of  view  and  the  Christian  spirit  of 
service.  For  like  reasons  the  elements  of  instrumental 
music  should  be  taught  in  all  the  schools.  So  should  a 
love  for  good  literature  and  the  habit  of  patronizing 
the  public  library.  Domestic  art  in  its  various  forms, 
the  elements  of  landscape  gardening  as  applied  to  the 
ordinary  home,  should  win  a  larger  place  in  the  public 
school  curriculum.  And  by  all  other  means  besides 
public  education  the  popular  use  of  art  should  be  pro- 
moted. For  its  social  possibilities  are  almost  limitless, 
provided  the  latent  talent  of  the  people  is  developed  as 
it  might  be,  and  artists  themselves  have  social  vision. 

The  use  of  good  art  to  furnish  entertainment  relates 
it  closely  to  all  other  sorts  of  wholesome  recreation. 
The  war  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  gave  the  public  a 
new  insight.  What  recreation  did  for  the  morale  of 
the  army  it  can  do  for  the  morale  of  the  masses.  If 
the  laboring  classes  are  to  have  more  leisure  they  must 
have  more  opportunities  for  wholesome  play.  The 
abolition  of  the  saloon  creates  a  wide-open  opportunity 
for  something  to  take  its  place  as  a  poor  man's  club. 
Sociologists  and  others  are  beginning  to  draft  the  blue- 
prints of  a  public  system  of  recreation.  In  it  art  as 
well  as  sport  will  function  largely.  There  are  numerous 
types  of  recreational  activities  available.  The  moving 
picture  theater  should  not  be  on  the  basis  of  a  private 
commercial  enterprise,  but  on  the  basis  of  a  public 
educational  institution.  There  should  be  more  parks 
and  playgrounds,  more  community  centers  and  Y.  M. 
C.  A.'s.    The  Boy  Scouts  should  be  extended.    Schools 


266        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

and  churches  should  expand  their  recreational  and 
social  activities.  Special  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
neglect  the  most  needy  neighborhoods.  This  is  a  most 
promising  field  for  philanthropy.  Community  Service 
Incorporated,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Red  Cross,  and 
other  social  agencies  are  pushing  into  this  field,  and 
they  deserve  every  encouragement.  There  is  nothing 
like  good  wholesome  play  to  keep  people  out  of  mis- 
chief and  make  them  happy.  Recreation  ought  to  be 
as  well  organized  an  institution  in  our  social  life  as 
instruction  now  is.  It  ought  not  to  remain  a  private 
business  enterprise,  because  there  is  too  much  tempta- 
ion  to  demoralize  it.  Money  comes  out  of  people's 
pockets  when  their  more  imperious  instincts  are  ap- 
pealed to;  they  need  their  higher  instincts  solicited 
instead.  There  is  nearly  as  much  reason  for  public 
ownership  of  the  recreation  business  as  of  the  education 
business.  They  are  closely  related.  The  problem  of 
discipline  disappears  from  a  troubled  school  when  play 
is  properly  equipped,  organized  and  supervised.  It 
would  work  much  the  same  in  a  troubled  republic.  The 
populace  better  be  singing  together,  improvising  dramas 
or  playing  ball  than  to  be  incubating  wild  schemes  of 
ill-considered  reforms;  especially  in  a  time  when  the 
current  of  change  is  too  swift  at  best,  and  wise,  impar- 
tial arbitrators  are  too  little  consulted.  Let  us  fight 
"Bolshevism"  with  music  and  baseball! 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE    NEW    RELIGION 

THE  new  world  that  is  emerging  will  have  to  be  a 
cooperative  world,  otherwise  it  will  not  emerge 
at  all. 
The  keynote  of  the  old  regime  was  self-interest. 
Self-interest  was  frankly  set  forth  in  economic  and 
political  theory  as  the  driving  force  in  industry  and 
the  prime  motive  of  all  human  action.  The  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number  was  supposed  to  be  as- 
sured if  government  let  each  citizen  alone  to  look  after 
his  own  interests.  But  laissez  faire  has  broken  down 
in  practice  and  been  abandoned  in  theory.  It  made  the 
weak  helpless  victims  of  the  strong.  The  injustices  of 
the  old  regime  were  inherent  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
regime  itself,  which  was  organized  and  licensed  selfish- 
ness. As  Professor  Bobbitt  says :  "dividedness  was 
the  malefactor."  Under  it  things  went  from  bad  to 
worse,  until  they  are  now  recognized  as  intolerable. 
The  world  is  thoroughly  tired  of  the  every- fellow- for- 
himself  regime ;  and  the  reaction  has  already  set  in.  Co- 
operation has  already  made  considerable  development 
in  both  ideals  and  practice.  Indeed,  togetherness  is 
about  to  assert  its  ascendancy  over  dividedness.  Every 
institution  of  society  is  being  put  on  a  more  coopera- 
tive basis.  The  transition  is  in  process.  The  family  is 
being  transferred  to  a  democratic  basis.    Education  is 

267 


268        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

rapidly  undergoing  a  similar  change.  Political  democ- 
racy is  manifestly  an  attempt  to  put  government  on  a 
cooperative  footing.  And  as  cooperative  government 
succeeds  on  a  small  scale  it  tends  to  widen  its  scope  and 
include  ever  larger  units.  Now  the  time  has  come 
when  all  the  nations  must  be  united  in  a  federation  of 
the  world. 

It  is  in  the  field  of  property  that  the  cooperative 
arrangement  is  being  most  stubbornly  resisted.  Indeed, 
here  is  the  crux  of  the  present  crisis.  There  are  those 
who  insist  that  democracy  can  succeed  in  no  institution 
unless  it  is  applied  to  industry,  too ;  that  undemocratic 
industry  will  thwart  democracy  everywhere  else.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  democratic  ideals  cry  out  insistently 
against  the  monstrous  maladjustments  brought  forth 
by  the  self-interest,  every-fellow-for-himself  organiza- 
tion of  society  in  general,  and  of  industry  in  particular. 
Some  readjustment  is  necessary.  Even  here  coopera- 
tion is  inevitable. 

Apparently  the  evolution  of  society  is  like  the  cooling 
and  freezing  of  water.  It  is  a  law  of  nature  that  heat 
expands  and  cold  contracts.  Similarly  the  ruthless 
struggle  for  existence,  resulting  in  the  extermination  of 
the  weak  and  the  survival  of  the  strong,  is  a  universal 
law  of  nature.  But  just  before  the  freezing  point  is 
reached  an  apparent  reversal  of  the  law  occurs;  in 
reality  the  molecules  crystallize  in  a  new  relation  to  one 
another,  so  that  as  water  changes  to  ice  it  expands. 
Otherwise  ice  would  sink,  and  the  world  would  become 
a  frozen  lump.  Likewise,  when  social  evolution  reaches 
a  certain  stage  cooperation  supersedes  competition,  and 
human  units  assume  an  entirely  different  relation  to 
one  another,  namely  that  of  cooperation  and  mutual 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  269 

help.  Otherwise  all  the  achievements  of  civilization 
would  be  turned  to  mutual  destruction,  and  the  race 
would  eventually  destroy  itself.  It  was  the  tragedy  of 
Germany  to  apotheosize  the  struggle-  for-existence 
theory  at  precisely  the  time  when  social  evolution  was 
preparing  to  discard  it  in  practice.  Physicists  say  that 
in  freezing  crystallization  occurs,  during  which  the 
molecules  assume  new  and  different  relations  to  one 
another.  The  crystallization  of  society  is  taking  place. 
The  human  molecules  are  shifting  from  the  competi- 
tive, coercive,  to  the  voluntary,  cooperative  relation  to 
one  another.     This  is  the  social  crisis ! 

The  change  we  are  now  passing  through  has 
been  compared  with  the  change  brought  about  long, 
long  ago  by  the  domestication  of  plants  and  animals — 
the  change  from  the  hunting-fishing  to  the  agriculture- 
handicraft  stage  of  social  evolution.  Social  and  ethical 
philosophers  point  out  that  this  produced  a  change  in 
human  nature  itself.  The  hunter  was  spasmodic.  Ex- 
citement held  him  to  the  chase.  But  not  so  the  farmer ; 
he  had  to  be  capable  of  holding  himself  steadily  to  long 
and  tedious  tasks.  The  American  Indians'  incapacity 
for  making  this  adaptation  illustrates  the  point.  In 
that  early  readjustment  those  whose  temperaments  pre- 
cluded their  learning  to  "hold  their  noses  to  the  grind- 
stone" were  eliminated.  The  civilized  earth  is  the  heri- 
tage of  those  who  could  learn  the  lesson.  And  every 
influence  of  religion,  education,  and  industry  has  de- 
veloped to  the  utmost  all  the  latent  powers  of  applica- 
tion that  the  farmer-craftsman  breed  possessed. 

And  now,  by  a  like  analogy,  human  nature  must  rise 
to  a  new  type — the  cooperative.  The  utterly  unco- 
operative will  eliminate  themselves  by  their  selfishness. 


27O        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

The  middle  class  in  America  are  doing  so  even  now 
with  a  very  visible  rapidity  by  selfishly  refusing  to  bear 
and  rear  offspring.  And  as  for  the  cooperativeness 
latent  in  human  nature,  it  must  be  stimulated  and  culti- 
vated to  the  utmost.  For  if  we  are  to  have  a  more  co- 
operative social  order  we  must  have  a  more  cooperative 
human  nature.  The  crucial  argument  urged  against  all 
socialistic  schemes  is  that  they  won't  work !  And  it  is 
true,  they  will  not  work,  at  least,  not  without  a  radical 
change  in  human  nature.  The  larger  their  scope  and 
the  greater  their  reliance  upon  voluntary  cooperation, 
the  greater  the  risk  involved  in  the  experiment.  The 
current  of  socialistic  schemes,  setting  in  upon  the  cross 
current  of  individualistic  human  nature,  portends  a 
social  cyclone.  To  build  cooperative  institutions  out  of 
uncooperative  folks,  is  to  invite  the  collapse  of  the  in- 
stitutions. The  old  order  is  inevitably  breaking  down ; 
some  new  experiment  is  pressing  itself  irresistibly  upon 
us.  The  problem  of  the  age  is,  therefore,  to  remake 
human  nature.  Except  the  race  be  born  again  it  can 
not  see  the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  more  one  ponders  over  the  industrial  reforms 
and  the  better  democracy  now  being  advocated,  the 
more  one  becomes  appalled  by  the  obvious  fact  that 
precisely  what  we  lack  to  make  them  successful  is  a 
radical  regeneration  of  personal  character.  Leisure  is 
a  curse  to  any  person  who  misuses  it.  So  are  more 
wages.  If  laborers  use  their  increased  resources  to 
propagate  irresponsibly  they  will  soon  crowd  their  own 
ranks  to  such  a  degree  that  by  sheer  weight  of  numbers 
they  will  sink  the  raft  of  their  prosperity.  But  repro- 
ductive responsibility  involves  character.  All  mutual- 
benefit,  cooperative  enterprises  are  hard  to  operate  per- 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  2JI 

manently.  They  wreck  on  the  recalcitrancy  of  a  few 
individuals.  The  enfranchisement  of  labor  will  be  a 
farce  and  a  failure  unless  labor  can  develop  a  high  de- 
gree of  intelligence  and  moral  responsibility.  There  is 
no  formula  by  which  wishes  can  be  turned  into  horses ! 
(or  should  we  now  say  limousines?)  Every  great  civ- 
ilization has  been  built  on  a  pain  economy;  and  when- 
ever it  has  achieved  a  pleasure  economy  it  has,  for  lack 
of  self-restraint,  promptly  begun  its  ascent  to  Avernus. 
Utopias  can  never  be  even  so  much  as  approximated, 
not  to  say  maintained,  except  by  regenerated  human 
nature.  A  new  type  of  man  must  be  evolved  if  we  are 
to  evolve  a  new  type  of  society.  Social  justice  can 
never  be  achieved  except  by  just  individuals. 

But  the  hope  is  not  in  vain.  The  sure  promise  of  the 
ideal  world  that  is  to  be  is  in  the  latent  resources  of  the 
human  spirit.  Hitherto  the  best  in  human  nature  has 
been  tragically  repressed.  If  a  parent  brings  up  his 
child  on  fear  and  corporal  punishment,  it  will  be  evi- 
dent to  that  parent  that  his  child  has  no  sensitive  gentle- 
ness nor  loving  comradeship  in  his  makeup.  Which 
only  means  that  the  parent  has  blinded  himself  to  the 
potentialities  which  he  himself  has  stifled  in  his  child. 
Similarly,  social  organization  has  stimulated  and  habit- 
uated chiefly  the  egoistic  impulses,  but  has  thwarted 
and  atrophied  the  altruistic.  Militarism,  for  example, 
has  seized  sympathetic,  companionable  youths  and  set 
them  to  the  business  of  killing  each  other.  Slums, 
ignorance,  unemployment,  and  commercialized  tempta- 
tions have  pushed  promising  boys  into  crime,  and 
thereby  put  them  on  the  defensive  against  society.  At 
the  most  idealistic  period  of  their  young  lives  our  sons 
are  drawn  into  the  game  of  competitive  business,  where 


272        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL    UNREST 

the  golden  rule  is  a  handicap.  The  old  philosophies  of 
economics  and  ethics,  with  their  self-interest  theories, 
have  tacitly  sanctioned  the  hardening  process. 

Even  the  old  theology — not  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  to 
be  sure,  but  the  theology  taught  by  most  of  the  priests 
and  theologians  through  the  centuries — stimulated  the 
egoistic  instincts.  Its  overt  and  direct  appeal  has  always 
been  to  the  instincts  of  self-preservation.  The  driving 
motives  in  religion  as  in  business  have  been  self- 
interest.  To  save  one's  own  soul,  to  escape  the  pains  of 
hell  and  win  the  bliss  of  heaven,  was  the  objective. 
Faith  or  good  works,  whichever  the  given  age  empha- 
sized, were  always  means  of  salvation,  never  ends  in 
themselves.  Thus  Christian  theology  has  evolved  on 
egocentric  lines,  homologous  to  the  egocentric  society 
in  which  it  was  destined  to  function.  The  teachings  of 
Jesus  have  almost  always  been  emasculated  in  the  inter- 
pretation, and  regarded  as  ideal  but  impracticable. 
Dawning  upon  a  world  that  sat  in  darkness,  the  divine 
ideal  was  grossly  distorted  and  caricatured  by  the 
struggle- for-existence  atmosphere  through  which  its 
rays  were  refracted.  Hence,  if  one  were  to  be  a  real 
disciple  of  Jesus  one  too  often  had  to  be  such  in  spite 
not  only  of  the  social  order  but  of  organized  Christian- 
ity itself.  Hence  the  contradictions,  compromises,  in- 
consistencies, subterfuges  and  hypocrisies  with  which 
historic  Christianity  has  always  abounded.  Hence  it 
was  also  that  the  religion  of  Christendom  has  usually 
repressed  nearly  as  much  altruism  as  it  has  stimulated, 
and  whatever  altruism  it  has  succeeded  in  producing  it 
has  produced  as  a  sort  of  by-product. 

Never  but  once  has  a  worthy  faith  in  human  nature 
been  voiced,  and  that  was  by  Jesus,  who  taught  that  all 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  273 

men  are  sons  of  God.  He  must  have  had  access  to  the 
Creator's  blueprint  of  the  soul's  innate  potentialities. 
Psychologists  talk  about  several  billions  of  neurones  in 
the  human  brain,  only  a  fraction  of  which  ever  func- 
tion. Those  dormant  neurons  are  pregnant  with  the 
unborn  social  brotherhood.  We  used  to  sing  about 
cords  that  were  broken  vibrating  once  more.  The  soul 
is  an  instrument  of  perfectly  good  strings  that  never 
have  vibrated  at  all.  It  is  like  a  fine  piano  upon  which 
only  a  few  simple  tunes  have  ever  been  played,  and  they 
upon  its  middle  register.  It  wants  but  the  sweep  of  a 
master  hand  to  bring  forth  celestial  harmonies  of 
almost  infinite  variety  and  scope. 

The  human  organism  is  exceedingly  plastic;  the 
social  instincts  have  been  easily  crusted  over  with 
selfish  habits  so  that  human  nature  often  appears  as  if 
they  did  not  exist  in  it  at  all.  But  one  catches  glimpses 
at  times  of  the  group-preserving  instincts,  and  what 
they  are  capable  of  producing.  What  men  will  do  and 
suffer  "in  the  interest  of  science,"  "for  art's  sake,"  "to 
give  the  children  a  start,"  "to  solve  the  social  problem," 
"for  the  heathen  world,"  "to  make  the  world  safe  for 
democracy,"  "for  the  cause  of  God" — and  all  with 
never  a  thought  of  reward — might  well  suggest  a  whole 
system  of  new  theology.  The  fact  is  that  whether  in 
economics,  ethics  or  religion,  egocentric  theories  of 
human  action  are  wrong.  They  are  half  truths  that 
distort  and  caricature  the  whole  truth.  Human  nature 
is  not  a  circle  with  one  center,  it  is  an  ellipse  with  two 
foci;  and  the  range,  scope  and  power  of  the  group- 
preserving  instincts  are  far  greater  than  is  realized  in 
current  theories. 

Moreover,    the    group-preserving    instincts    go    as 


274        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

directly  to  their  mark  as  the  self -preserving.  Unselfish 
actions  do  not  have  to  be  accounted  for  in  terms  of  self- 
interest;  they  are  themselves  elemental  and  instinctive. 
There  is  no  self -calculation  when  a  mother  serves  or 
protects  her  child ;  there  is  only  child-calculation  on  her 
part.  The  hero,  acting  in  behalf  of  others,  the  martyr 
dying  for  his  cause,  the  soldier  perishing  at  his  post, 
has  not  first  reasoned  it  out  that  by  so  doing  he  will 
conserve  his  own  welfare.  They  act  because  a  situation 
is  presented  that  sets  off  the  sensory-motor  mechanism ; 
and  the  discharge  is  just  as  spontaneous  and  direct 
when  sympathy  or  some  other  social  instinct  sets  us  off 
as  when  hunger  does.  Upon  this  psychology  the  new 
religion  must  be  based. 

Accordingly,  what  the  world  needs  to-day,  if  it  is  to 
develop  a  human  nature  of  the  new,  cooperative  type,  is 
a  new  religion  that  frankly  abandons  the  primary  ap- 
peal to  self-preservation,  but  appeals  instead,  directly 
and  overtly,  to  the  other-regarding,  group-preserving 
instincts.  The  splendid  image  of  that  ideal  world 
which  is  to  be,  must  be  held  before  the  convert's  gaze 
until  his  face  is  radiant  with  reflected  light.  The  good 
of  mankind  must  be  made  to  shine  at  the  focus  of  his 
attention  until  his  own  personal  good  blurs  off  into  the 
penumbra.  Religion  must  set  up,  as  the  main  business 
of  life,  the  enterprise  of  helping  to  make  this  a  better 
world  to  live  in.  Looking  out  for  number  one  here  and 
hereafter,  must  be  definitely  subordinated.  The  un- 
speakable tragedy  of  millions  of  mankind  stumbling 
along,  generation  after  generation,  through-  a  belated 
darkness  that  might  have  been  dawn,  must  wring  the 
heart  of  the  new-type  Christian  like  the  pains  of 
damnation.    The  ceremonies,  penances  and  services  of 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  275 

that  new  religion  must  consist  in  removing  the  causes 
of  poverty,  crime,  misery  and  despair,  increasing  the 
opportunities  for  achievement  and  self-realization,  and 
making  two  blades  of  human  happiness  grow  where  but 
one  had  grown  before.  Such  a  religion  will  emphasize 
the  responsibilities  of  democracy  more  and  its  privileges 
less.  A  religion  that  sets  up  the  social  good  as  its  prime 
objective  will,  according  to  the  psychology  expounded 
above,  stimulate  to  action  the  latent  cooperativeness 
now  dormant  in  human  nature,  and  so  produce  the  co- 
operative society  it  sets  up  as  its  goal.  Such  a  religion 
will  be  a  new  thing  under  the  sun. 

The  social  power  of  such  a  religion  should  be  obvious 
to  those  who  understand  the  nature  of  religion  itself. 
Religion  is  the  latent  spirit  bursting  the  restraint  of 
objective  limitations  imposed  upon  it,  and  coming  forth 
to  self -completion  with  an  irresistible  urge.  Civiliza- 
tion at  any  stage  of  social  evolution  satisfies  only  a 
fraction  of  human  nature:  religion  is  the  gasping  of 
the  smothered  residue  for  the  breath  of  life.  Religion 
is  what  man  naturally  aspires  to  be,  but  is  not  yet 
because  the  social  world  is  crude  and  young,  struggling 
to  achieve  itself.  The  objectives  of  religious  faith  are 
the  soul's  latent  possibilities  reflected  back  to  it  in  the 
mirror  of  instinctive  aspiration.  Therefore  the  power 
of  religion  is  analogous  to  the  lifting  power  of  a  grow- 
ing plant.  By  historians,  sociologists  and  psychologists 
it  is  recognized  as  a  well-nigh  irresistible  force.  Like 
the  fire  under  the  boiler  of  a  steam  engine,  it  generates 
tremendous  motive  power.  It  motivates  men  to  what 
they  would  otherwise  regard  as  impossible.  The  most 
imperious  instincts  yield  to  it.  Attach  religious  sig- 
nificance to  an  enterprise  or  ideal  and  men  will  go 


276        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

through  blood  and  fire  to  attain  it.  Fortunate,  there- 
fore, the  civilization  that  holds  worthy  ideals  as  objects 
of  religious  faith.  If  the  objects  of  religious  hope  and 
aspiration  distort  and  caricature  what  man  is  really 
destined  to  become,  then  the  energy  of  striving  to 
attain  them  is  largely  wasted.  But  if  they  are  veri- 
similitudes of  what  he  really  is  to  be,  his  strivings  will 
carry  him  straight  to  the  goal  with  incalculable  force 
and  momentum.  For  making  human  nature  brotherly, 
therefore,  nothing  can  be  so  effective  as  a  perfectly 
clear  assurance  that  a  glorious  brotherhood  upon  the 
earth  is  nothing  less  than  the  predestined  will  of  God. 
And  the  motive  force  in  that  ideal  is  precisely  in  its 
direct  appeal  to  the  brotherliness  latent  in  human 
nature.    This  is  the  crux  of  the  religious  revolution. 

And  is  it  not  providential,  now  that  a  new  coopera- 
tive religion  is  coming  to  be  a  felt  need,  that  the  old 
egoistic  religion  should  already  have  faded  away  of  its 
own  accord?  As  the  industrial  and  scientific  revolutions 
came  gradually,  so  the  revolution  in  religion  has  long 
been  under  way  already.  The  old  motives  have  largely 
ceased  to  function.  The  fires  have  gone  out  in  the  fur- 
naces of  hell,  the  caldrons  have  crusted  over,  and  the 
whole  plant  has  cooled  off  and  aired  out.  We  have 
nothing  left  of  it  now  but  the  metaphorical  symbol  of  a 
hypothetical  condition,  which  cannot  be  pictured  to  the 
imagination,  and  which  frightens  nobody.  The  revival 
sermons  of  seventy-five  years  ago  would  be  listened  to 
by  intelligent  people  nowadays  with  ill-concealed  merri- 
ment. It  is  only  self-deception  and  camouflage  to  blink 
the  fact  that  the  whole  framework  of  the  old  theology 
has  fallen  apart.  The  field  is  cleared,  ready  for  the 
edifice  of  a  new  faith. 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  277 

Moreover,  the  timbers  are  already  hewn  and  the 
stones  already  quarried  for  that  new  edifice.  The  at- 
mosphere of  the  age  is  charged  with  social  purpose. 
The  social  motive  actuates  innumerable  men  and 
women,  although  many  of  them  do  not  yet  recognize  it 
as  religious.  There  are  a  hundred  fields  into  which 
young  persons  are  being  attracted  for  their  life  work 
because  of  the  good  they  think  they  can  do  there: 
nobody  has  told  them  it  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  they 
are  seeking  an  opportunity  to  serve.  A  few  great 
leaders  of  the  churches,  like  Rauschenbusch  and  Glad- 
den, have  pioneered  the  social  mission  for  a  generation, 
and  multitudes  of  the  younger  clergy  have  caught  the 
vision.  But  the  great  body  of  the  laity  remain  incapable 
of  the  new  point  of  view;  while  the  intellectual  class 
and  the  labor  group  hold  themselves  aloof  from  the 
church  because  it  cannot,  or  because  they  think  it  can- 
not, utilize  their  social  idealism.  And  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy,  prophecy  is  discordant,  to  say  the  least.  Eccle- 
siastical officialdom  is  mostly  gray-headed,  fossiliferous 
and  stone  blind.  Many  ministers  are  being  whirled 
round  and  round  in  the  eddies  between  the  two  cur- 
rents, the  new  and  the  old,  until  they  are  so  dizzy  they 
cannot  tell  forward  from  backward. 

At  this  point  the  argument  will  fall  short  of  its  pur- 
pose unless  the  contention  stands  prominently  forth 
that  what  society  really  needs  is  a  revolution  of  the  first 
magnitude  in  theology. 

Imagine  Jesus  urging  apprenticeship  in  husbandry 
or  in  fishing  for  the  Galilean  priests  and  Levites,  so  as 
to  put  them  into  more  sympathetic  contact  with  the 
provincial  peasantry;  or  organizing  at  Jerusalem  an 
every-member  canvass  for  tithes,  so  as  to  enlarge  the 


278        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

temple  or  educate  more  Sadducees  and  Pharisees.  In- 
stead he  had  the  insight  to  discern  that  new  wine  could 
not  be  put  into  old  bottles.  Imagine  Martin  Luther 
mailing  out  questionnaires  for  a  religious  survey  of 
Germany,  or  inaugurating  Sunday  evening  forums  on 
German  unity  or  the  menace  of  democracy  in  the  Swiss 
cantons.  Instead  he  cast  the  doctrine  of  Justification 
by  Faith,  like  a  bomb,  into  the  trenches  of  things-as- 
they-were.  The  case  is  not  otherwise  again.  The  great 
ecclesiastical  movements  recently  staged,  though  un- 
doubtedly sincere,  revealed  a  tragic  lack  of  prophetic 
insight;  and  that  is  why  they  have  collapsed.  Great 
historic  revivals  have  not  come  by  means  of  centralized 
ecclesiastical  organization,  prearranged  propaganda, 
and  semi-coercive  financial  drives.  They  have  oftener 
come  as  protests  against  them.  As  for  the  Jeremiah, 
the  Paul,  the  Augustine,  the  Luther,  the  Calvin,  the 
Knox  or  the  Wesley  of  the  present  situation,  the 
church's  lack  of  prophecy  still  provokes  his  challenge, 
and  the  masses  dumbly  await  his  evangel,  as  yet  in 
vain. 

For  a  long  time  it  has  been  customary  to  belittle  and 
disparage  creeds.  That  was  because  the  only  creeds  in 
sight  had  ceased  to  function.  A  creed  is  no  longer  a 
creed  after  it  has  ceased  to  be  credible.  But,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  nothing  is  more  necessary  than  a  living 
creed,  one  that  sets  forth  a  program  of  life,  and  ex- 
pounds convincingly  the  reasons  for  it;  not  reasons 
that  we  have  been  taught  to  believe  that  we  believe,  but 
reasons  that  really  do  carry  absolute,  unqualified  con- 
viction. 

The  fact  is  that  the  people  are  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of 
modern  life.     With  regard  to  all  the  great   funda- 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  279 

mentals  they  do  not  know  what  to  believe.  They  do 
not  so  much  as  possess  settled  convictions  as  to  what 
the  fundamentals  are.  Indeed,  to  one  who  penetrates 
beneath  the  surface  of  things,  the  present  social  unrest 
is  not  so  much  a  social  unrest  as  it  is  a  spiritual  be- 
wilderment. Aside  from  the  almighty  dollar,  and  the 
food,  clothes,  luxuries  and  leisure  the  dollar  will  pro- 
cure, there  is  no  consensus  of  opinion  as  to  what  the 
real  values  of  life  are.  In  the  last  analysis  this  is  the 
disease  of  the  age.  What  must  the  age  believe  in  to  be 
saved?  If  the  Church  has  creative  prophecy  within 
her,  let  her  answer  that  question ;  but  the  dead  formu- 
las of  yesterday  this  age  will  have  none  of. 

The  late  Borden  P.  Bowne  used  sometimes  to  remark 
facetiously:  "We  do  not  need  a  philosopher  very  often, 
but  when  we  do  need  one  we  need  him  desperately." 
Now  is  one  of  those  times;  we  need  a  new  philosophy 
of  life,  call  it  theology,  creed,  or  what  you  like,  and  we 
need  it  desperately.  It  must  be  expressed  in  the  vocab- 
ulary of  contemporaneous  biology,  psychology  and 
social  philosophy ;  otherwise  it  will  not  be  credible.  It 
must  appropriate  the  dominant  aspirations  of  the  age 
and  elevate  them  to  the  level  of  religious  faith;  other- 
wise it  will  not  motivate.  It  must  contribute  dignity, 
worth  and  peace  of  mind  to  individual  lives,  and  settle 
the  social  disorder;  otherwise  it  will  be  a  failure,  for 
nothing  less  is  its  function.  But  to  do  that  the  new 
religion  must  make  its  appeal  directly  and  overtly  to 
the  group-preserving,  other-regarding  instincts.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God 
in  the  heavens,  must  frankly  change  places  so  far  as 
their  relative  importance  is  concerned.  The  vital  tenet 
of  the  new  creed  must  be  the  limitless  perfectibility 


280        CAUSES   AND   CURES   FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

both  of  the  human  spirit  and  of  the  social  order;  and 
all  the  arts  must  contribute  to  glorify  that  vision. 

To  be  sure,  even  revolutions  build  upon  the  past. 
The  American  constitution  was  pieced  together  out  of 
English  precedents  and  experience.  Similarly  the  new 
social  religion  was  implicit  in  the  old  individualistic 
religion.  The  theology  of  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther, 
and  Calvin  all  contained  a  core  of  gospel  truth.  There 
was  real  kernel  in  the  husk.  The  difference  between 
the  old  and  the  new  will  be  the  difference  betwen  bud 
and  flower.  All  the  old  doctrines  either  contained  a 
solution  of  altruistic  idealism  or  symbolized  the  social 
vision.  The  means  of  salvation  were  always  tinctured 
with  the  love  of  fellow  man,  however  dilute  at  times. 
Among  the  by-products  of  historic  ecclesiasticism  were 
always  more  or  less  altruism  and  social  idealism  in  the 
souls  of  its  devotees.  But  by-products  they  were, 
nevertheless,  and  too  often  the  amount  was  negligible. 
What  we  need  now  is  to  make  them  the  prime  products, 
and  reduce  personal  salvation  to  the  status  of  by- 
product. Theology  needs  a  decided  shift  of  its  weight 
from  the  egoistic  to  the  social  instincts. 

The  writer  is  by  profession  an  educator.  His  spe- 
cialty is  the  sociological  theory  of  education.  What 
can  education  do  for  democracy?  The  answer  seems 
to  be  very  plain :  Democracy  can  do  nothing  without 
universal  liberal  education!  But  the -conviction  becomes 
more  and  more  clear  with  the  passing  years  that  the 
public  school  can  never  take  over  the  function  of  the 
church.  Religion  is  the  great  motive  power  for  human 
good,  and  quite  as  much  as  democracy  needs  a  new 
educational  ideal  does  it  also  need  a  great  religious 
reawakening.    And  one  of  the  depressing  signs  of  the 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  28 1 

times  is  the  small  proportion  of  ecclesiastical  leaders 
who  really  see  this  need.  But  far  more  discouraging  is 
the  almost  negligible  proportion  of  well-to-do  laymen 
who  are  willing  to  tolerate  prophetic  utterance  from  the 
pulpits  they  support.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  one 
hesitates  about  suggesting  the  ministry  as  a  life  work 
for  really  viable  young  men — the  critical  attitude 
toward  ecclesiastical  things-as-they-are  is  an  almost 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  peace  of  mind  and  profes- 
sional success ;  vital  prophecy  in  every  age  has  too  often 
had  to  be  preached  from  its  father's  tombstone  outside 
the  church  doors.  Nevertheless,  a  sufficient  proportion 
of  such  young  men  to  really  dominate  the  situation  is 
no  doubt  the  church's  crying  need.  The  ranks  of  the 
clergy  are  far  from  destitute  of  such  souls ;  they  ought 
to  clarify  their  vision,  renew  their  courage,  but,  most 
of  all,  seek  out  and  enhearten  one  another;  assured,  in 
spite  of  intolerant  disparagement,  that  they  are  indeed 
the  salt  of  the  earth. 

The  function  of  the  church  in  the  present  social 
crisis  is  to  generate  the  new  cooperative  type  of  human 
nature  that  is  necessary  to  make  the  new  cooperative 
social  order  work.  To  do  this  it  must  formulate  and 
expound  a  new,  socio-centric  theology  that  will  stimu- 
late the  social  instincts,  as  few  historic  religions  have 
ever  succeeded  in  doing.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  sub- 
divide this  function  into  certain  subsidiary  tasks  that 
can  be  more  concretely  stated.  For  the  sake  of  rhetori- 
cal emphasis  we  may  specify  the  duty  of  the  church 
toward  each  of  three  classes,  the  public,  the  capitalists 
and  the  laboring  class. 

The  church  must  educate  the  public  to  adopt  the 
social  point  of  view.     Christians  must  be  induced  to 


282        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

inquire  habitually:  What  is  for  the  general  good? 
instead  of:  What  is  for  my  private  interest?  So  far 
as  concerns  one's  attitude  toward  the  social  question 
the  test  of  a  Christian  is  whether  or  not  he  is  willing  to 
examine  his  prejudices  critically,  to  admit  the  truth 
when  it  conflicts  with  his  interests,  and  to  advocate 
just  reforms  in  face  of  personal  loss.  To  consecrate 
one's  life  unselfishly  to  the  general  good  always  has 
been  the  keynote  of  true  Christlikeness ;  and  such  insti- 
tutions as  autocracy,  slavery,  the  saloon  and — whatever 
the  unjust  institution  is  to-day — can  be  reformed  only 
by  a  fight,  or  else  by  a  body  of  public  opinion  that  loves 
truth  and  justice  more  than  anything  else.  All  of 
which  sounds  platitudinous  enough,  to  be  sure;  but  if 
the  church  can  achieve  the  result  in  our  generation  she 
will  achieve  one  of  the  greatest  miracles  in  her  history. 
For  the  proportion  of  men  is  not  large  who,  in  the 
choice  and  pursuit  of  their  vocation,  in  their  expendi- 
tures, and  in  their  attitudes  on  public  questions,  seek 
first  the  general  welfare  and  its  equities.  To  impart 
this  point  of  view  and  motivate  it  is  a  miracle  of  grace 
indeed. 

A  second  responsibility  toward  the  public  is  to  show 
the  social  significance  of  the  traditional  virtues.  Social 
reasons  must  acquire  an  authority  quite  as  categorical 
and  imperious  as  the  old  supernatural  sanctions. 

One  of  the  symptoms  of  the  present  chaotic  state  of 
things  spiritual  is  that  vast  numbers  of  people  are  with- 
out convictions  as  to  why  they  should  be  good.  Why 
keep  the  Sabbath?  Apparently  the  majority  think 
there  is  no  reason.  Why  tell  the  truth  ?  Many  intelli- 
gent persons  contend  that  the  truth  is  frequently  a 
gratuitous  nuisance.     Why  bear  hard  burdens  when 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  283 

they  can  be  shifted?    Why  be  steadfast  in  conjugal  re- 
lations?   Why  practice  self-denial?    Our  fathers  could 
answer  these  questions  and  many  others  unequivocally, 
and  quote  their  authority,  chapter  and  verse.     How- 
ever, that  was  yesterday !    For  our  children  these  vir- 
tues must  be  related  to  the  social  good,  the  saving  of 
democracy,  and  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Christians  must  be  shown  how  social  solidarity  ruth- 
lessly loads  pain,  misery,  disaster  and  even  death  upon 
the  sinner's  innocent  associates  and  successors.    People 
must  understand  that  Christianity  begins  at  home.  Any 
minister  may  well  preach  ten  sermons  (if  he  knows 
enough  sociology)  on  the  social  functions  of  the  famiiy, 
the  virtues  necessary  to  successful  family  life,  and  the 
consequences  to  society  of  domestic  failure.    If  he  is  a 
real  prophet  of  the  new  religion  he  will  send  his  hearers 
home  shuddering  under  their  responsibilities  and  fail- 
ures, as  church-goers  have  not  shuddered  since  the  days 
when  they  were  "hair  hung  and  breeze  shaken  over 
hell."     Self-denial,  mysticism,  thrift,  reverence,  obedi- 
ence,   chastity,    honesty,    self-control,    and    the   other 
homely  old  virtues,  all  derive  significance  chiefly  from 
their  social  consequences.     Their  effect  upon  others  is 
far  more  important  than  their  effect  on  the  individual 
himself.    To  set  those  social  consequences  forth  makes 
these  virtues  religious  once  more,  since  the  Kingdom 
of  God  is  the  new  religious  objective.     Moreover  it 
appeals   to  the   group-preserving,    altruistic    instincts; 
which  appeal  is  the  keynote  of  the  new  religion.     This 
task  of  expounding  the  social  function  of  the  old  morals 
and  the  old  piety  is  a  very  important  subsidiary  func- 
tion of  religion  in  the  social  crisis.     There  is  scarcely 
anything  else  that  the  rank  and  file  of  ministers  could 


284        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

do  that  would  contribute  as  much  to  stabilize  the  situa- 
tion just  now  when  it  so  much  needs  stabilizing. 

The  church's  responsibility  toward  the  capitalist 
class  is  to  point  out  clearly  the  injustices  in  the  present 
industrial  order,  and  to  demand  reform  insistently. 
This  will  not  be  pleasant  listening  for  them,  because 
they  are  the  beneficiaries  of  the  vested  wrongs  that  need 
righting.  The  ministry  that  performs  this  task  will 
have  its  martyrdoms — few  wealthy  city  churches  will 
tolerate  that  kind  of  preaching.  But  to  shirk  this  re- 
sponsibility is  to  crucify  the  Lord  afresh,  a  sin  which 
historic  ecclesiasticism  has  too  often  committed.  The 
past  is  full  of  instances.  The  church  of  the  Old  South 
upheld  slavery,  the  German  clergy  were  the  servile 
apologists  of  pan-Germanism  and  f rightfulness ;  the 
French  church  before  the  Revolution  defended  the  old 
regime.  In  such  cases  the  authorized  moral  guides 
could  see  no  injustice  in  slavery,  no  horror  in  brutal, 
selfish  conquest,  and  no  wrong  in  the  cruel  oppression 
of  the  French  peasantry.  Thus  the  ministers  of  Chris- 
tianity hindered  the  cause  of  Christ  because  they  could 
not  distinguish  right  from  wrong  in  the  social  systems 
of  which  they  were  themselves  a  part.  Hence  they 
disgraced  the  church  for  all  time,  and  threw  such  sus- 
picion upon  it  that  millions  even  now  fear  and  hate  it 
as  the  bulwark  of  existing  social  injustices.  If  the 
church  is  to  vindicate  herself  in  the  present  crisis  our 
religious  leaders  must  sift  the  present  situation  with 
unerring  moral  judgment.  Concrete  social  sins  must 
be  branded.  The  slavery,  autocracy,  and  feudalism  in 
our  industrial  regime  must  be  located  as  definitely  as  a 
surgeon  locates  a  tumor,  and  the  influence  of  the  church 
brought  unequivocally  to  bear  upon  the  side  of  right 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  285 

and  justice,  and  against  specific  wrongs.  The  church 
must  demand  the  repentance  and  regeneration  of  unjust 
social  institutions  quite  as  insistently  as  she  has  de- 
manded the  conversion  of  ungodly  individuals.  The 
whole  weight  of  the  church  must  be  brought  to  bear  in 
favor  of  the  reforms  the  age  justly  demands. 

Contemporaneous  religion  has  produced  a  few 
prophets  who  do  distinguish  social  justice  from  social 
injustice  as  clearly  as  Amos  did,  and  who  dare  to  speak 
their  minds  as  fearlessly  as  Jeremiah.  Men  of  this 
type  should  absolutely  dominate  the  situation,  the  whole 
people  must  be  educated  and  inspired  to  see  through 
their  eyes,  and  the  Hohenzollerns  of  industrial  autoc- 
racy shamed  into  repentance.  The  vested  social  wrongs 
described  in  chapters  five,  six  and  seven  could  hardly 
last  a  single  generation  if  the  voice  of  the  clergy  were 
clear,  united  and  insistent  against  them. 

As  for  the  masses,  the  church  must  do  for  them 
what  the  Wesleyan  revival  did  for  the  masses  in  Eng- 
land; namely,  regenerate  their  lives.  For  unless  their 
ideals  are  spiritualized  and  their  habits  purged,  neither 
industrial  democracy  nor  a  redistribution  of  wealth  will 
do  them  any  lasting  good.  But  if  the  church  would 
save  the  masses  she  must  first  demonstrate  that  she  is 
not  a  hired  priestess  of  the  vested  wrongs  from  which 
they  suffer.  The  exploited  masses  will  listen  only  to  a 
church  that  they  are  convinced  is  the  aggressive  and 
efficient  advocate  of  social  justice.  This  is  an  impor- 
tant truth  that  few  ecclesiastical  leaders  have  discerned. 

From  the  foregoing  it  must  be  obvious  that  the 
social  function  of  religion  is  often  too  narrowly  con- 
ceived. True,  it  is  the  local  church's  function  to  pro- 
vide amusement  for  the  young  people,  and  foster  a 


286        CAUSES   AND   CURES    FOR   SOCIAL   UNREST 

wholesome  sociability  for  the  community;  but  this  is 
not  what  the  church  exists  for  primarily.  Neither  does 
the  church  exist  primarily  to  rehabilitate  decadent  rural 
communities,  nor  to  maintain  employment  bureaus  and 
day  nurseries  in  the  cities;  though  it  is  sometimes  de- 
sirable for  her  to  render  these  services.  It  is  not  even 
her  prime  function  to  arbitrate  between  capital  and 
labor,  though  she  can  by  no  means  escape  responsibility 
in  this  important  issue.  These  matters  are  all  sub- 
sidiary. The  social  function  of  the  church  is  to  formu- 
late and  motivate  the  ideals  upon  which  the  vitality  of 
all  institutions  depends,  and  without  which  the  lives  of 
the  people  are  futile.  The  age  that  lacks  vitalizing  ideals 
is  decadent,  depressed  with  ennui,  "Weltschmerz"  and 
a  growing  sense  of  despair.  Democracy  is  certain  to 
fail  in  such  an  atmosphere.  But  no  crisis  is  appalling 
to  a  society  that  is  transfigured  by  a  glorious  vision. 

As  seldom  before  in  history  the  world  is  ripe  for  a 
great  religious  awakening.  The  aspirations  and  yearn- 
ings of  democracy,  including  and  combining  all  that 
has  ever  been  wished  for  in  all  the  past,  have  gradually 
been  taking  possession  of  the  great  heart  of  the  race, 
raising  the  hopes  of  mankind  to  heights  never  ventured 
before.  Institutions  are  emerging  from  their  ancient 
cocoons,  and  stretching  out  the  folds  of  their  new  wings 
as  if  they  would  presently  fly.  The  people  have  suf- 
fered deeply  for  their  sins  and  the  sins  of  their  social 
system.  The  world  waits  but  for  the  voice  of  a  prophet 
to  sound  the  keynote  forth:  "It  is  the  will  of  God!" 
and  lo,  the  mountains  and  hills  will  break  forth  to- 
gether into  singing.  With  but  the  infusion  of  a  great 
religious  faith  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  passion  to 
serve  it  will  burst  forth  in  every  soul  like  a  sudden 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  287 

flame,  and  the  new  democracy  will  thereby  spring  into 
being  and  permanent  success.  Such  is  the  social  func- 
tion of  the  church  in  the  present  crisis.  May  God 
grant  her  leadership  and  inspiration  commensurate  to 
that  great  task. 


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